L'amour est une chienne
by tresdrole
Summary: A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black’s twisted lovelife and the girls who made it click. Long chaps, lots of action. Now officially M! Read and Review, please...
1. The Joys of Categorizing

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **PG-13, for now… I'm not sure yet how graphic this will end up getting.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of these people, because you can't own people; it's called slavery and it's wrong.

So, without further ado:

* * *

**L'amour est une chienne**

(love is a bitch)

Chapter One

_The Joys of Categorizing_

Sirius Black, sixteen years old and damn proud of it, strode briskly down a corridor. He spotted an attractive Hufflepuff girl whom (if memory served) he had once slept with. What was her name again? Sally? No – Sandy? Still not sure, Sirius swept his hair out of his eyes idly, causing Sally or Sandy or whatever her name was to glance over at him discretely, keeping her head low in an attempt to disguise her interest. Ah, so he _had _slept with her, Sirius thought, his mind drifting back to that party in the Hufflepuff common room a few weeks earlier.

He, James, and Peter had attended, per the invite of a large group of girls. Remus had been invited, too, but he had chosen to stay in the Gryffindor common room and work on some essay for Transfiguration. Sirius wasn't sure what the logic behind that was; they had had all the rest of the weekend to finish their work.

The party was a drag at first, but then the beer and whisky started flowing. Sirius never drank because he needed the fun; he could usually entertain himself just as well without alcohol. But there had been that pretty girl among the gaggle that had invited them… she kept offering him firewhisky, and she had had such a pretty laugh… _Oh_, Sirius remembered suddenly, _it wasn't Sally or Sandy… it was Sinead._ He fought the urge to glance behind him and see if she was still watching him; if his hazy memory of that night served correctly, they had had quite a good time.

But then, Sirius Black had no lack of good times. He was the most dashing boy in school, and he knew it. But it wasn't just that; he also had three great friends who would stand by his side no matter what.

They did everything together. He, James, and Peter had even mastered the art (over the course of a very long three years) of transforming into animals, and now they accompanied lycanthrope Remus on all of his monthly excursions.

Sirius had reached his destination: the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He was there for detention, of course; two days earlier that damn Professor Lamont had cornered him and James attempting to curse Severus Snape into oblivion. Professor Lamont was an aggravating hag of a woman who had been substituting for the past two weeks, as their regular Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was away with some unidentifiable sickness (though it was rumored to be dragon pox).

Professor Lamont had not been at school long enough to realize what a grand prat Snape was; she saw him only as a marvelous student to teach, as his knowledge of the Dark Arts probably exceeded her own. In addition, she already harbored resentment against Sirius and James, as they really were quite obnoxious during class.

Thus, when she encountered Snape, sniveling in a panicky manner as sheets of foam poured from his eyeballs, ears, mouth, and nose, she had rounded on Sirius and James and vowed to punish them to the furthest extent possible under the law.

This, it turned out, translated to two weeks of afternoon detention.

"That's what the mirrors are for," James explained cheerfully, after Lamont informed them that they would be in _separate_ detentions. He and Sirius were back in the common room, explaining the vaguely-unfortunate situation to Remus and Peter.

"I do love how pointless detentions are for you two," Remus observed.

Sirius pretended to be offended. "Excuse me, Moony?" he said with a little gasp. "How dare you imply that I don't find great meaning in my detentions!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'd never imply that… it's just that the whole point of detentions is for you to _not_ enjoy them and thus _not_ be compelled to keep doing the things that landed you in trouble in the first place," he said.

"Really?" gasped Sirius.

James laughed. "Who knew…"

Now at the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room (James was supposed to be working in the hospital wing – something about bedpans,) Sirius stuck a hand into his pocket to make sure that the mirror was still there.

Once that was affirmed, he knocked on the door.

"Enter!" the woeful voice of Professor Lamont commanded.

Sirius opened the door and strode in confidently. "Good evening, Professor," he said.

Professor Lamont had somewhat limp and unkempt grayish-brown hair and damp eyes that would have been more appropriate on a blood hound. As unsightly as she was, however, she still knew her Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Good evening, Black," she said stoutly. "Now, for these two weeks you are going to be organizing notes for me. I am planning on writing a novel, you see. Historical fiction. Very hefty stuff. Right now you are going to help get all of the sources in order; just go page by page and categorize everything." She went behind her desk and heaved out an immense stack of parchment, which she set on one of the classroom desks before continuing. "There are four more stacks were that came from, but I chose not to drag them up here this evening. Now, this is what you need to go…" and she proceeded to explain the exact categorization she desired for use in furthering her research.

Sirius felt himself growing bored just thinking about it. Thank goodness for the mirrors; a brisk chat with James would make the hours speed away.

Professor Lamont, having finished her explanation, brushed off her hands and glanced at the clock on the wall. Then she glanced at her own watch. "She's late," she muttered.

Sirius, who wasn't really listening, glanced at his own watch, too. "Ah… so, Professor, how long till I can–" but he was interrupted by a knock on the classroom door.

"Enter!" snapped Lamont, her voice still woeful.

The door opened a crack, and a girl peered around the corner. She smiled. "Ah! Good evening, Professor!" she said, opening the door all the way and proceeding inside.

"Miss Delacour," said Lamont, nodding quickly in aggravation, "you are nearly ten minutes late."

The girl gave Lamont a winning smile. "I'm sorry; I must have lost track of the hour, Professor."

Lamont blinked a few times and then said briskly, "Very well… but don't let yourself be late tomorrow."

"Of course not, Professor," the girl said with another smile.

Sirius was perplexed by the girl's arrival, as well as quite a bit annoyed.

"You mean I've got double-detention with_ her_?" he asked Lamont incredulously.

Claire Delacour – for that was her name – looked at Sirius, her countenance something akin to exaggerated disgust, and demanded, "Oh, and what's _that_ supposed to mean, Black?"

Sirius couldn't help but smile, but he caught himself after a second; after all, he couldn't miss this opportunity. "So, Claire, what'd you do?" he asked scathingly, "Get caught shagging Zabini again? Or was it somebody else this time?"

Claire Delacour blushed slightly, but kept her cool. "Wouldn't you like to know," she replied lightly.

Lamont was looking annoyed. "I expect this stack of parchment to be at least half-sorted by supper, at which point both of you can go… until tomorrow, at least!" she said loudly.

Sirius and Claire Delacour both turned back toward her. "Very good, Professor," Claire said.

Sirius offered a limp smile.

Lamont narrowed her droopy eyes for a moment, and then turned and strode out of the room. "I'll be back to check how you are getting along within the hour!" she called over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her. They could here her tapping the doorknob with her wand to lock it.

Claire and Sirius turned back to one another. "So you reckon she's not going to monitor us, then?" Sirius asked pleasantly.

Claire shrugged. "Suppose not. Bloody fool, too… I know _I'd_ never leave you unattended."

Sirius smiled vaguely. "Yeah… me neither."

Claire grinned.

Sirius rolled his eyes at her and sat down on one of the desks. "So. Claire. What'd you _really_ do to get thrown in detention?"

Claire sat down on the desk opposite him and nodded for a few moments as if contemplating something. Then she opened her mouth and said, "Yeah. You pretty much guessed it earlier."

Sirius couldn't help but grin now. "Are you serious, Claire? My god, you are _such_ a–"

She stood up in anger. "A _what_, exactly?" she demanded. "Sirius, _you_ of all people can't start labeling–"

Sirius grinned some more. "What I was going to say is that you are such a… such a… such a _nice girl_."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, and how about you, Sirius? What'd _you_ do to get thrown in detention? Curse Severus Snape again, or something else just as original?"

Sirius shrugged. "Wouldn't _you_ like to know?" he replied airily.

Claire smiled. She had sat down on the desk again. "No, actually, I don't really care to," she informed him pleasantly.

Sirius pouted exaggeratedly. "You're no fun…"

Claire shrugged, still smiling angelically. She swung her legs idly from her perch on the desk.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at her. _That Claire Delacour…_

Claire was in Ravenclaw, and, at one year older than he, she would be graduating in a few months' time. Claire was from France, from a lovely estate near La Rochelle, and she returned there every summer to visit her family. Though her older brother had attended Beauxbatons, Claire, like her mother and grandmother before her, had attended Hogwarts.

Claire Delacour had creamy skin and dark brown hair that fell to just below her shoulders. She parted it far over to one side, and a thin shock of bangs fell lightly across her forehead when her hair was pulled back, such as now. Her eyes were a lovely violet and her eyelashes were always dark and thick. Claire had a pretty French face with a nose that turned up at the end, elegant cheekbones, and rosy cheeks (though that might have been make-up). She was somewhat short, a good head below Sirius at least, but she was slender, had very good posture, and gave off the appearance of being taller than she was. Claire Delacour was, without a doubt, substantially hot.

Sirius was amused by Claire Delacour, and she herself looked upon him with a sort of entertained scorn. Sirius had dated, snogged, or else had sex with a good deal of her friends, and Claire was always either hearing about how wonderful he was or else listening to rants about what a dick he was from one of her girlfriends or another.

The fact that he was a year younger than she amused Claire as well, because she had never before known a "little" boy to cause such a commotion amongst the older years. Indeed, she knew that Sirius, at the time fifteen, had been quite popular with last years' seventh years as well.

Claire herself had little use for him. She had been with her boyfriend, Hector Zabini, since the end of fourth year. Hector was tall, dark, and handsome. He was in Slytherin, came from an old Mediterranean family, and was Claire's match in every way. At least, this was what she explained to her girlfriends when they sought her council in matters of male-female relations.

Claire was going to marry Hector. They both knew it; it was fate.

"So. Claire," Sirius drawled, deciding to change the subject. "How's Zabini been lately?"

Claire smiled at him. "Quite well, thanks. And how's… Leda?"

Sirius frowned. "Leda? We broke up."

"Oh, really?" Claire said cheerfully, taken aback. "I'm sorry, I didn't know… so, who did the breaking up? You or her?"

Sirius smiled ruefully. "Well, it was sort of mutual… sort of."

Claire raised her eyebrows and looked at him. "Oh, come now, Sirius! Give me the details; we have a whole two hours to kill here!"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Well, if you must know, she walked in on me and Vana… didn't take too kindly to the scene, if you get my gist."

Claire grinned. "Vana? You mean Vanity Linus? What the hell were you doing with _her_?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, but then smiled slightly despite himself. "What do _you _think?"

Claire laughed. "You are quite the… quite the…" she took a deep breath and regarded him from her perch on the desk.

"…Quite the what?" Sirius asked. "Don't leave me hanging."

Claire laughed again. "Quite the awful boyfriend," she informed him frankly.

Sirius shrugged. "We're broken up now, so no worries."

Claire exhaled slightly. "I suppose… so what's up now? Going out with Vanity, I take it?"

Sirius shook his head, a somewhat disturbed look on his face. "Good grief, no."

Claire laughed again, and Sirius continued, "She's worse than I am! I mean, _really_… I know better than to get into serious commitments with the likes of her."

Claire nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, she is quite the _petite putain_… but seriously, Sirius… Lee… hey, wouldn't it be funny if your middle name were 'Lee?'"

Sirius smiled despite himself. "Tediously," he agreed.

Claire grinned at him, her pronounced dimples showing.

Sirius shook his head and grinned back at her despite himself. "Okay. My turn to interrogate you regarding personal issues," he informed her.

Claire rolled her eyes, but did not object.

"Okay, first question: what exactly were you doing with Zabini that got you stuck in detention for two weeks?" Sirius asked, stroking his chin thoughtfully with a forefinger and thumb and leaning toward her intently.

Claire smiled slightly and stared at him incredulously. "That is _none_ of your business," she replied.

Sirius grinned at her. "Why ever not? I'm the one who has to sit around here for two hours with you fourteen days straight."

Claire smiled sweetly at him. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It doesn't have to be," Sirius replied quickly, realizing too late that he had inadvertently slipped into his flirtatious mode.

But Claire laughed him off. "Don't try me, Black; you've already damn-near banged up most of my friends."

Sirius was about to say something equally biting in reply, but thought better of it. "Hey, it's not _my _fault your friends like me so much," he said, tempering himself.

"Nor mine," Claire replied.

They stared at one another in silence for a few moments, and then Sirius asked, "Are you going to marry Zabini, Claire?"

Claire blushed slightly despite herself. "What's it to you?" she demanded.

Sirius shrugged. "Nothing. Just wondering… after all, the two of you..." he trailed off, unsure of what he was getting at.

"The two of us _what_?" Claire asked quickly.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. Then he grinned apologetically. "I have no idea… I don't quite know where that was going."

Claire smiled, a bit too gratefully. Then she said, "My older brother just got married."

"Did he?" Sirius repeated.

Claire nodded. "Actually, I have some pictures in my bag…" She hopped down to the floor and rummaged around in her book bag, finally locating a leather wallet. She withdrew a small photograph and held it out for Sirius to inspect. "That's my brother, and that's his new wife," Claire said, pointing to each of the faces in the picture quickly. "Apolline... Madame Delacour now… I swear, she drives me bloody _mad_."

Sirius inspected the two people in the photo, who were smiling happily and kept waving at him. Claire's brother looked like her: same pleasant coloring, same turned-up nose. The woman at his side, however, was absolutely stunning. She had a long sheet of silvery-blond hair, enormous blue eyes, and about a thousand pearly white teeth.

"Wow… she's… ugly," remarked Sirius airily.

Claire smiled appreciatively. "I know… half veela, you know; you should see her _mother_…"

Sirius examined the picture for a few more moments; he was finding it difficult to look away. At last, he handed it back to Claire with the comment of, "Lucky brother."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you should see the looks he gets from men, now that he's got Apolline on his arm."

Sirius smiled at her pleasantly. "I can imagine," he informed her briskly.

-

At some point during the two hours, Sirius and Claire finally got around to doing some of the categorizing Lamont had set them to complete. When Lamont stuck her head into the room at a few minutes to six, they were busy reading the many sheets of parchment. The Professor nodded a few times, contented, and went away. Sirius and Claire promptly grew bored of their task and took another break.

Finally, when the clock struck seven, the Professor came back and informed them that they could go to dinner with a reminder that they were to come promptly on time the next day.

As they walked down the corridor toward the stairs together, Sirius and Claire discussed the tedium of their task. They were launching into a vindictive rant against Lamont when James came out of a shortcut just ahead of them. "Oh, hello, Padfoot," he remarked, waiting for them to catch up. "Hello, Delacour."

"Potter," acknowledged Claire, nodding at him.

James smiled. "How was detention?" he asked Sirius.

"Oh, invigorating," Sirius replied dully. "And yours?"

James shrugged. "Could have been worse… never got around to using the mirror, though; I was being monitored."

Sirius realized he had forgotten all about the mirrors.

Claire smiled slightly. "So how have you been lately, Potter?" she asked. "I haven't seen you around much."

James shrugged again. "Decent, as always… _et toi_?"

Claire laughed. "_Très bien_."

Sirius smiled despite himself.

Lily Evans was making her way down the corridor toward them. "Hello, Evans!" James called cheerfully.

She rolled her eyes in annoyance and did not meet his eyes.

"Will you go out with me?" James called at her as she hurried past them.

Lily stopped and turned to glare at him. "Do I _really_ need to answer that question, Potter?" she demanded. She turned to look at Claire. "Oh, hello, Claire."

"Lily," Claire replied pleasantly, smiling her winning smile.

Lily turned back to James, who appeared to be deep in thought. "Well, I would appreciate an answer, yes… preferably an affirmation," James replied serenely, nodding a bit.

Lily rolled her eyes again and exhaled loudly in annoyance. "Well, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed, Potter," she said shortly, turning on her heal and continuing down the corridor.

James groaned slightly. "Why does she always do that?" he muttered.

Sirius shrugged. "No idea, mate… maybe she just doesn't like you that much."

Claire was watching Lily as she stormed away. "No, I don't think that's it," she observed. "I mean, the only way she would be–" but she stopped abruptly as Hector Zabini rounded the corner.

"Hey!" Claire called cheerfully.

He smiled, showing brilliantly-white teeth. "Hey." Hector Zabini strode toward Claire, James, and Sirius. He gave Claire a kiss and turned to the other two. "Black; Potter," he said curtly, nodding to each of them.

"Zabini," Sirius replied, equally curt. He harbored a persistent resentment against everybody in Slytherin, even if they had never personally offended him.

James said nothing; he gave a bland smile.

Claire seemed to have forgotten all about Sirius and James; Zabini put his arm around her and the two of them started off down the corridor, talking earnestly.

"How was your detention?"

"Tedious… and yours?"

"Boring as hell." Zabini turned to kiss Claire on the forehead, and she smiled happily.

Sirius glanced at James. "Right," he said, rolling his eyes. "Shall we go down to supper, then?"

James nodded in affirmation, still looking a bit annoyed over this Lily Evans business. He glanced at Claire and Zabini, now far ahead up the corridor and about to round a corner. "Did you have detention with her?" he asked half-heartedly.

Sirius nodded. "Yes… and I swear, she drives me mad, she's that bloody annoying."

James smiled. "Well, the fact that you've slept with most of her friends probably _does_–"

"That's not it," Sirius interrupted unconvincingly. "It's just that she's so… so…"

"Hot?" James suggested, leaning to one side so as to watch Claire and Zabini for a moment longer.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "I was thinking more along the lines of… I don't know… 'overly superior and self-assured,' or something."

James shrugged. "And this annoys you?" he asked sagely.

Sirius tilted his head from side to side, weighing the possibilities. "Yes," he said at last.

James laughed. "Well, not much you can do about it, mate!" he observed cheerfully. "And besides, it's more fun to have somebody like that to talk to during detention than having nobody at all, like we do when _sane_ teachers are the ones setting the punishment."

Sirius barked out a laugh again. "I know it… Lamont didn't even check in on us until an hour in…"

As they entered the Great Hall, Remus and Peter waved them over from their spot along the Gryffindor table. "How was detention?" Remus asked pleasantly.

"Charming," James replied at once.

"Just grand," Sirius added.

Peter laughed. "Lucky you two."

As they ate dinner, a girl sitting across the table leaned in the talk to Sirius. "How's it going, Black?" she asked pleasantly.

Sirius shrugged. "As well as can be expected." He swished his hair out of his eyes with one hand and grinned at her. "And you, Niall?"

She smiled shyly. "Call me Evie," she said for the third week straight, pushing her wavy black hair behind her ears and batting her eyelashes a few times.

"Evie," Sirius repeated, giving a nod. He knew her, of course; she was a year younger than he was, a fifth year, and in Gryffindor. A quiet girl, Evetta Niall had long waves of rather thin ebony hair and sparkly brown eyes. She had been persistently attempting to flirt with Sirius for the past month. He had nothing against her; besides, she wasn't all that bad to look at, but Sirius needed more excitement than shy flirting over the dinner table to fall for a girl.

"Scoot over, Evie," a louder voice commanded. "Good evening, Sirius."

"Likewise," Sirius replied promptly. Beside him, James smiled familiarly at the girl.

"Evening, Tara," he said.

"Oh, Jamie," she said at once, "my mum says yours is getting sick of not hearing from you. Send her an owl one of these days; it'll do her good."

James nodded. "Can do." He turned back to Peter, with whom he had been discussing the iniquities of detention.

Tara Nevan sat down next to Evie, one of her friends and roommates, and turned to Sirius. "I hear you had detention," she said. "How was that?"

Sirius shrugged idly. "Fabulous, of course," he replied.

Evie giggled, and Tara turned to smile sweetly at her for a moment. She whispered something in Evie's ear, and the two girls both broke out in giggles.

Sirius stifled a roll of his eyes. Tara Nevan lived down the road from the Potters' Devon manor, in a lovely old house surrounded by acres of fields and forests. Sirius had first really met her the previous summer, when he had run away to James's house. Tara had long, straight, light-brown hair and pretty green eyes flecked with hazel. She had moved on from her childhood infatuation with James to a burning crush on Sirius at some point over the summer, and even now he couldn't get her to stay away from him.

Behind Tara over at the Ravenclaw table, Claire Delacour was chatting with her group of girlfriends. As Sirius watched, she seemed to roll her eyes and then turn to her plate, where she poked idly at a pile of boiled potatoes. He stifled an urge to wave wildly at her; for some reason, doing so seemed a tad out of place just now.

"James says you had detention with Claire Delacour," Remus commented in Sirius's ear. Sirius turned to look at him.

"Oh… yeah, I did," he confirmed.

Remus smiled slightly. "And what'd _she_ do? Get caught shagging Zabini again, or something?"

Sirius grinned. "I got that impression, yeah."

Remus laughed and shook his head.

Sirius copied the gesture.

"What'd you two do?" Remus asked casually.

Sirius shrugged. "Talked a bit… she has good gossip, you know. Oh, and her brother just got married; you should see the pictures, the wife is half veela, or something… I mean, _damn_…"

James had turned toward their conversation. "Who's half veela?" he asked.

"Claire's new sister-in-law," Sirius repeated.

James raised his eyebrows. "Lucky brother," he remarked.

Sirius nodded. "That's what I said." He glanced back over at the Ravenclaw table, but Claire was no longer there. Scanning the hall, he found her at the Slytherin table, standing beside Hector Zabini and talking to him quickly. As Sirius watched, Hector shook his head and seemed to wave her away. Claire rolled her eyes and marched back to the Ravenclaw table, saying something over her shoulder to him as she went. Sirius felt vaguely curious, but not to the extent of exertion; he turned back to James, Remus, and Peter.

Across the table from them, Tara Nevan and Evetta Niall were still whispering.

-

The next day, detention proved just as potentially dull as it had the first time. Sirius arrived at five minutes past five; Claire arrived ten minutes later. After a brief lecture about punctuality from Professor Lamont, the two were locked in the room with instructions to "get a move on that categorizing."

As soon as they were alone, Claire sat down on her desk and groaned.

"What's up?" Sirius asked curiously.

"This is what's up!" Claire replied. "This! It's boring as hell!"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, don't have a cow… anyway, what's up? In general, I mean."

Claire stretched and then stroked her chin thoughtfully. Her dark hair was down today, and it framed her face pleasantly.

"Well… your brother Regulus is quite the little Lord of the Manor."

Sirius stared at her. "And what's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

Claire smiled slightly. "He's only – what, thirteen? – and he's already got all the girls in Slytherin raving mad over him."

Sirius grinned a bit. "Oh, yeah… silly Regulus."

Claire smiled. "You should meet some of the Slytherins, Sirius… I'm sure you could find some you'd like."

Sirius shook his head adamantly, no. "Nah… I've got far too much pre-programmed anti-Slytherin sentiment. They do that to you in Gryffindor."

Claire smiled some more. "They really aren't all that bad, the Slytherins," she said, sighing slightly.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "This from the girl who's completely enamored of Hector Zabini… gee, I just love unbiased opinions."

Claire laughed. "Well… they aren't _all_ perfect… some of them are a bit unpleasant, like Severus Snape." She frowned. "That poor boy… he might be a bit unsightly, but I don't think it's his fault that you and Potter make his life a living hell. Maybe you should lighten up on him a bit."

Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, don't think so."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Whatever… and Bellatrix Black… well – she's your cousin, yes? – so, no offense, but… she's a little bit… crazy."

Sirius laughed dryly. "Tell me something I don't know."

Claire smiled. "Not so much _insane_-crazy, but she gets so impassioned over things... and she's a bit too elitist for my tastes. She's pretty, though."

Sirius let out a slight huff. "Yeah, 'a bit too elitist'… sorry, but that's an understatement."

Claire shrugged. "Hey, I don't know her all that well; this is mostly stuff Hector's told me."

Sirius nodded for a while. Then he asked, "Why do you like Hector Zabini so much?"

Claire stared at him. "Um… what?"

Sirius shrugged, and smiled at her. "I asked why you like Hector Zabini so much," he said pleasantly. "I mean, really, you could probably have any guy in the school, so…"

Claire laughed incredulously. "Don't start on me, Black!

"I'm not starting–" Sirius began, but then he realized with a jolt of annoyance that he was. "Sorry; force of habit," he murmured.

Claire smiled slightly. She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, and then asked, "Sirius, who was the first girl you ever kissed?"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "What, is it Confession Time now?"

Claire smiled more broadly. "Why not? Answer me honestly and then I'll tell you."

Sirius couldn't help but grin. This game was always substantially entertaining. "You're on," he said. He cleared his throat. "Okay, so, first kiss… my first year. With Dilys Merwyn, then a fourth year."

Claire laughed. "Dilys Merwyn? Was she that pretty Welsh girl with the red hair?"

Sirius nodded.

Claire laughed some more. "Ha! I remember her… she tutored me in History of Magic during my first year."

Sirius looked at her quizzically. "You needed tutoring in History of Magic?"

Claire shrugged. "Well… not really. But I'm in Ravenclaw; we over-achieve, don't we?"

Sirius laughed. "If you say so." In truth, he strongly agreed, but he thought better than to say it.

"But back to Dilys Merwyn… how did you come to kiss her?" Claire demanded.

Sirius smiled. "I didn't kiss her; she kissed me," he replied. "And it was quite simple, really… She and her friends had come into the compartment on the train I was sharing with James and Remus and Peter. We were talking about the complicated romance network at Hogwarts – you are familiar with it, aren't you, Claire? – and at some point Dilys had stopped laughing and said, 'I'm going to kiss you, Black.' And she did."

Claire shrieked with laughter. "That's adorable!" she exclaimed. She caught her breath. "And how was it, Black? Kissing a fourth year, I mean?"

"You can stick with, 'Sirius,' thanks," Sirius replied, "and it was fine… no, skip that–" and here he put on a dreamy face "–it was _incredible._"

Claire giggled. "Was she a good kisser?" she asked.

Sirius nodded briskly. "Quite good, in retrospect," he admitted, trying to sound very serious.

Claire giggled again.

"Well, how about you, then?" Sirius demanded. "When was your first kiss?"

Claire eyes narrowed in thought. "Um… it was the beginning of second year, so I had just turned twelve… Teague Roarke kissed me behind the greenhouses."

Sirius pretended to yawn. "Wow, that is incredibly detailed," he remarked airily.

Claire rolled her eyes. "You want more? We were 'going out,' if that's what it was… see, we couldn't actually _go_ anywhere; we just sat around nervously together feeling embarrassed and two or three times when there was nobody around he actually got the nerve up to kiss me."

"And was he a good kisser?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

"I don't remember!" Claire cried. Then she laughed. "Probably… he's quite popular with the ladies now. You must have noticed. Once he got taller and his acne went down – that was a couple of years ago, fifth year, I'd say – he finally lived up to his name."

"'Teague?'"

Claire shrugged. "I don't know what 'Teague' means, but you've heard of Kyle Roarke, haven't you?"

Sirius shook his head.

Claire raised her eyebrows. "You haven't? Well, I suppose he _was _a bit before your time… he was Teague's older brother, who would have graduated when I was a second year, but instead got two girls pregnant and was finally expelled at the start of his seventh."

"Silly fellow," Sirius observed sardonically. "What was he thinking, sleeping around like that?"

Claire burst out laughing. "You're a funny man, Sirius Black," she informed him frankly.

Sirius grinned at her, and winked. "I try."

-

By the third day of detention, Sirius found himself rather looking forward to a chat with Claire Delacour. He was not entirely sure why she fascinated him so much, but he assumed it had something to do with her indifference toward him, as well as her immunity to his inadvertent flirting. It all came down to the fact that Claire Delacour was one of the only girls to whom he could speak on non-romantic terms. All of the others became giggly, shy, or just plain whores around him, but she was head-over-heals in love with that Zabini bloke, and so had no interest in Sirius.

Sirius was not sure if he liked this or not; indeed, after so many years of getting whatever her wanted, this was something of a minor blow to his self esteem.

"So was that Roarke guy your first boyfriend? Or sort-of-boyfriend?" Sirius asked her point-blank after the door had been locked and Lamont had left them.

"Good evening to you, too," Claire replied, "and yes, I suppose he was."

Sirius nodded. "Fascinating… hey Claire, if you don't mind, I have more personal questions to ask you. Shall we continue with that tell-all game from yesterday?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Well, you just used a question right there, so now it's my turn." She stroked her chin thoughtfully, and then dropped her hand back to her side. "Who was _your_ first girlfriend?" she asked.

Sirius snorted. "Gee, what an original question."

Claire smiled sweetly.

Sirius sat back on a desk and blew air out of his mouth. "Um… Astrid. Astrid Kierkegaard, or however the hell you pronounce it. Third year."

Claire grinned at him. "Oh, I remember her!" she exclaimed. She nodded appreciatively. "She was _really _pretty!"

Sirius laughed. "Damn straight," he affirmed. "But she had those accursed older brothers… what were their names? Soren and something?"

"Soren and Lars," Claire put in, an exaggeratedly dreamy look appearing on her face. "And Lord, were they hot." She looked over at Sirius eagerly. "I went out with Soren, you know. For a while in fourth year, before I started going out with Hector."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Um, I'm happy for you, but he was a dick," he replied. "They both were."

Claire shrugged. "_Hot_ dicks," she countered.

Sirius burst out laughing; being a guy, he couldn't help it. Claire joined in a moment later.

"So, what's the story with Astrid?" she asked when they had both caught their breath. "And why do you hate her gorgeous brothers so much? I mean, I still mourn the day Lars graduated, and–"

"Yeah, yeah, enough already," Sirius interrupted. "We all know how hot he was." He exhaled and stared off into space, recounting the tale. "Okay, this is a good story, so pay close attention," he instructed a moment later.

The gist of the story was as follows:

Astrid Kierkegaard was Sirius Black's first real crush. Astrid was slender and tanned, with white-blonde hair and incredible blue eyes. During their first year, when students were called up to try on the Sorting Hat and be sorted into their respective houses, all of the males in the Great Hall had craned for a double-take when Astrid's name was read. Even at the age of eleven, she had been flawlessly gorgeous.

It wasn't for another two years that Sirius quite understood his hormones. At that point, however, he, who had already been in the sights of a large portion of the female population for some time, figured that he might as well pursue what he wanted.

It proved remarkably easy. Once he realized that being blunt and straightforward ("You look very pretty today, Astrid" or "I think we should hang out at Hogsmeade this weekend, Astrid") was a flawless method of getting the girl to respond to his advances, everything ran like clockwork. That weekend in Hogsmeade, he kissed Astrid's perfect lips at a table in The Three Broomsticks and was only vaguely disappointed to learn that she did not kiss as well as Dilys Merwyn.

(Then again, it was Astrid's first kiss. She improved with time.)

Astrid had two older brothers, Soren and Lars, fifteen and seventeen, both very handsome and blonde and the object of affection for most of the fourth-year-and-above girls (such as Claire Delacour, then a fourth year) in the school. They were also ridiculously protective of their younger sister, and so, soon after making out with Astrid that evening in a deserted corridor, Sirius found himself being threatened.

"We don't want you touching our sister!" Soren said aggressively.

"Stay away from her, Black, unless you want another thing coming to you!" Lars added adamantly.

Sirius was incredulous. "But–"

Lars and Soren glared at him with matching pairs of sky-blue eyes. "Just _stay away_ from her, Black," Soren hissed.

Sirius never got the chance to make them explain what they found so offensive about him kissing their little sister. As he had no sister of his own, he had no sympathy for what he considered to be a horrible act of injustice.

Of course, he continued to see Astrid; she was a tad quiet, it was true, but he was still completely smitten with how beautiful she was.

Astrid herself had been swept off her feet by how gallant and funny and, well, _hot _Sirius was. She had been receiving quite a lot of attention from the opposite sex ever since she had started attending school, but until now her brothers had always protected her from potential suitors. This was, of course, because she hadn't been interested in any of the boys before. She had always complained to Soren and Lars, and they had always gone to have a harsh chat with the lad in question. But Sirius had just been so quick, and so suave… Astrid had fallen for him, and not bothered to tell her brothers what was going on.

So it was that they heard about Sirius and Astrid through the grape vine, and, not knowing what to think, but feeling protective regardless, they had let Sirius feel their wrath.

Their mistake was in thinking that a forbidden relationship was a deterrent to potential lovers. Sirius and Astrid had a great deal more fun once they were forced by necessity to start meeting in deserted corridors or behind bookshelves in the library, far from the prying eyes of Lars and Soren.

In January of their third year, however, two things happened: first, Astrid and Sirius ran into Lars, who was making out with his girlfriend, in one of the tapestry-covered staircases that served as a shortcut between floors. Lars postponed snogging the girl, who looked amused, to hex Sirius. While he sat in the hospital wing afterward, waiting for Madam Pomfrey to get the tentacles off of his face, his resentment at Astrid's brothers shattered his cheerful adoration of Astrid herself. Thus, upon returning to the common room, he went to Astrid and told her that their relationship was over.

Astrid was devastated. She flipped out at her brothers, who in turn grew angry at her. The entirety of Gryffindor house listened to them screaming at one another in the common room.

"You can't keep involving yourselves in my life!"

"Au contraire, Astri, we can and we will!" Lars replied.

"Look, if you two are allowed to screw whoever the hell you want–"

"What the fuck! Are you telling us he _screwed _you, too!"

"NO! Soren, shut up and listen to me!"

"Astri, we don't want to see our little sister snogging every fucking guy who walks in the door!"

"But everyone does it! Why shouldn't I?"

"Because you're our _little sister_!"

Then Astrid said something seemingly very rude in Swedish, and one of her brothers yelled something back at her, and soon the entire argument was in Swedish and nobody else could follow it anymore.

At the end of the year, Astrid returned to Scandinavia for good. She had informed her parents that she flat-out refused to attend the same school as her older brothers, and after what were probably many fights and tearful complaints, they agreed to transfer her to a school in Norway, where, from what people heard about her later, she blossomed socially and quickly became popular and appealing, if something of a whore.

Back in the present, Claire chuckled. "I remember when they called her name for the Sorting," she recalled. "I remember, we all recognized the last name, and I did a double-take, too, she was so pretty."

Sirius smiled. "I wonder what she's up to these days?" he mused.

Claire shrugged. "Probably screwing every boy in Norway. But what's it to you, anyhow? That was years ago, pal."

Sirius laughed easily. "Ah, but she was my first crush. And she was _so_ hot."

He turned to examine the stack of parchment they were supposed to be categorizing. "You know, I'm positive there's some way to do this by magic," he announced suddenly. "I bet we could spend, like, five minutes figuring it out and have the rest of these two weeks free to have lovely chats like this one."

Claire smiled. "No shit," she affirmed. "I was wondering when we'd get around to doing that… idiot Professor Lamont, not banning the use of magic."

Sirius nodded slightly in agreement as he prodded the parchment with his wand. "Yes, she is a bloody fool," he agreed, "but I can cope."

Claire slid off of her desk and came over to sit on one next to the stack of parchment. "Maybe if we just direct it with our wands?" she suggested, swishing her wand from side to side hopefully.

They spent the next ten minutes experimenting with different methods of categorizing by magic, smiling at one that translated all of the categorized information into Greek, and poking their wands in aggravation at one that caused the individual ink letters to come off of the parchment and dance around before settling back down in incorrect positions.

Then Lamont came back in, and Sirius and Claire hastily stowed their wands in their book bags and pulled out quills, pretending to have been at work for quite a while and hoping desperately that the Professor would not think to examine their work too closely.

-

"We could always just go with the Greek one," Claire suggested when she and Sirius had been released for dinner nearly an hour later. "We could be, like, 'You never specified that we had to put the finished product in English, so it's your own damn fault!'"

Sirius snorted. "Yeah, great plan, Claire," he said sarcastically. "And then we can make the letters dance around for her and put her in an even _better_ mood."

"_God_, Sirius! It was just a _suggestion!_" Claire whined, pretending to be highly affronted.

Sirius smiled despite himself.

"But anyway, you're quite entertaining to talk to," she continued in a normal voice, "so I say we both dedicate a few minutes tonight to figuring out how to make stuff categorize itself. I'll ask some of my over-achieving Ravenclaw friends, even–" and here Sirius couldn't help but laugh "–and then tomorrow we can swap dirty secrets all detention long."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds like a plan," he agreed cheerfully.

Claire grinned at him.

"Hey there!" a voice called from behind them.

Sirius turned to see Hector Zabini strolling down the corridor and looking handsome as ever as he smiled with his perfect teeth.

"Hello, _dear_," Claire replied playfully, coming toward him and allowing Hector to kiss her.

Sirius felt oddly annoyed.

"See you later, Sirius," Claire called, as she and Zabini, their arms around one another, set off toward the Great Hall. Zabini offered Sirius a curt nod, which he returned resentfully.

_Shit_, Sirius thought. _Shit, shit, shit_.

James came up behind him. "How goes it?" he asked pleasantly.

Sirius turned to look at him. "'It?'"

James raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Life! The day! The world! Pick one!"

Sirius fought the urge to give a long commentary on the state of each of the three topics. Instead he said, "I think I'm falling for Claire. You have to help me."

James frowned. "Um… well, no offense, mate, but falling for random girls is an affliction of all men. Honestly, I'd be surprised if you _didn't_ fall for Claire, what with spending two hours talking to her every afternoon. I mean, come on: she seems funny, from what I see… she seems to be entertaining to talk to… and besides, she's _hot_."

Sirius exhaled slowly. "I've noticed," he groaned at last, "and might I add that you are absolutely no help. Where's Moony?"

James smiled. "At dinner, I assume. Let's go track him down, shall we? I'll watch what he does and see if I can learn a thing or two."

Sirius grinned back at him. "You should," he agreed.

The two boys made their way down the corridor and several staircases to the Great Hall, which was full of students waiting to have supper. James and Sirius located Remus easily along the Gryffindor table; he was sitting and talking to Peter.

"Padfoot here is in need of aid," James announced as he and Sirius came up beside them.

Remus looked up at Sirius and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What's up?" he asked.

"I've fallen for Claire," said Sirius pleasantly. The irony of the situation had caused him to lighten up a bit. After all, James was Sirius's best friend, but Remus was the best at giving advice.

Remus took a deep breath. "Well, sit down, young Sirius," he said, with all the air of a parent. He turned to look at James. "Oh, and you, too, young acolyte."

James grinned and sat down on Remus's other side; Peter scooted over to allow space for Sirius.

"Now then, I assume your problem is that she's going out with Zabini," Remus observed.

"No shit; I could have told him that," James interrupted.

"Shut up," said Remus cheerfully. He turned back to Sirius. "But there's more to it than that, isn't there?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well… it's just that if she weren't so bloody _enamored_ of Zabini it would be so much easier to–"

"I see, I see," Remus interrupted serenely, and Sirius, James, and Peter all snorted. "Silence, fools," Remus continued. "Do not break my concentration… now…"

But none of them could help laughing at this point. Remus joined in, but after about a minute he finally said, speaking normally now, "Oh, shut up already. Padfoot, your problem is that you're used to always getting whichever girls you want, regardless of whether or not they have boyfriends, but – oh dear – silly Claire has already gone and fallen in love with somebody else. So basically, you have no chance, and you know it."

Sirius stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Ah, I see it now," he said, mimicking Remus's serene voice.

James laughed, but Peter said to Remus, "Where the hell do you _learn_ this stuff?"

Remus shrugged. "Well, I took a course, you see, entitled, 'How To State The Obvious'…"

Peter, James, and Sirius all laughed again. "Sign me up," James volunteered. "I could use a refresher."

Just then, the platters and tureens on the table filled with gravy, chicken dumplings, hot buttered rolls, and shepherds' pie. The boys turned away from one another to help themselves to supper.

Across the room Claire Delacour laughed to herself over something Sirius had said during detention. Hector Zabini, who had come over to talk to her before eating, asked what she was laughing at, but she merely shook her head and continued to smile.

* * *

Phew! Glad I got all of that out of my system! 

Review, please! Give me feedback on the story, or your opinion on HBP, or whatever. I'll be sure to respond to any and all reviews at the end of the next chapter!


	2. Measuring Up

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **PG-13, for now… next chapter, we'll see.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

* * *

Chapter Two

_Measuring Up_

Day four of detention began like the previous three. After exaggerating the necessity that Sirius and Claire get a move on the categorization or else not be allowed to go down to dinner until they had, Professor Lamont strode from the room and locked the door behind her.

"You know, maybe we can just leave," Claire pondered allowed. She walked over to the door and tried the knob. As expected, it was locked. "_Alohamora!_" Claire cried, tapping it with her wand, but to no avail: the door remained as immobile as before.

"Curse that woman and her knowledge of defensive spells," Claire muttered as she made her way back through the rows of desks to where Sirius was sitting, watching her with a bemused look on his face. She pulled herself onto a desk opposite him and exhaled in annoyance.

Sirius smiled pleasantly, and Claire looked up.

"So… did you do your homework last night, Sirius?" she asked.

He nodded. "I couldn't get stuff to categorize exactly the way she wants, though," he admitted. "It lists all the names and stuff, but in the wrong order." He paused for a moment and then asked, "And you? Did you ask your over-achieving Ravenclaw friends?"

Claire smiled and rolled her eyes. "I certainly did, and I got little Linnet Blakely to work out exactly how we managed that thing with the Greek, and it turns out we could also have gotten it to categorize in Latin or Catalan if we wanted."

"That's all charming, but what about English?" Sirius demanded.

Claire smiled more broadly. "Well, Linnet finally figured out how to get the Latin or Greek or Catalan to translate to English in the same wand movement, and I had her explain precisely how to do it to me, so… I think we're in business."

Sirius grinned. "Lovely. Thank that Linnet Blakely kid for me, will you?"

Claire looked at him thoughtfully. "Do you know her?" she asked curiously. "She's quite a nice little girl… well, she's actually not _too_ little; she's a fourth year. A _tiny _fourth year, though. And bloody brilliant… Ravenclaw through and through."

Sirius shrugged. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"Short, skinny kid?" Claire supplemented. "Pale, big glasses, bit of an over-achiever?"

Sirius shrugged again. "Sorry, she doesn't sound quite like my type."

Claire let out a derisive snort.

Sirius could not think of a snappy reply to this quickly enough. Instead he supplemented with, "Indeed… now, Claire, show me that wand thing the kid taught you."

Claire obliged, and soon the two of them were sitting happily back on the desktops watching the immense stack of parchment, two quills, and a bottle of black ink categorize without aid.

"Lamont really _is_ a bloody fool," Sirius observed.

Claire nodded thoughtfully. "Yes… poor thing."

Sirius turned to look at her and raised his eyebrows so high they disappeared under his shaggy hair.

Claire suddenly laughed. "Did I just say that? Sorry, I was sort of in a trance watching it..." She was referring to the categorization.

Sirius turned back to watch the two quills scratch out line after line on blank pieces of parchment, each in handwriting according to the person who had enchanted it. Thus, the large eagle-feather quill scrawled out categorizations in Sirius's cramped script while the smaller raven feather made annotations in a large, loopy cursive.

"Anyway," said Claire briskly, turning away from the oddly mesmerizing sight, "let's get on with those dirty secrets, shall we?"

Sirius remembered that that had been the plan from yesterday. He barked out a laugh. "You really want to hear my dirty secrets, don't you, Claire?"

Claire kept her cool. "I certainly do," she replied briskly. "So, first things first: who was your first shag?"

Sirius turned to stare at her. "Wait, so this means you're going to answer the same question?" he asked in semi-disbelief.

She shrugged. "Well, if you insist… though I'm sure you've already figured it out; you've already deduced why I'm in detention, right?"

Sirius was disappointed. "So just Zabini then, Claire?" he asked. He frowned. "Are you sure? I'd always heard you were a bit more _active_ than that."

Claire blushed slightly, but then she laughed. "You, Sirius Black, have no right to call _anybody _'active.'"

Sirius grinned at her, and said, "But you're sure, then? He was the first one?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Well, I've been going out with him since the end of fourth year, so _yes_, I'd say he was the first one."

"And he's the only one, then?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Well, seeing as I've been dating him ever since…"

Sirius nodded. "I see. So, Claire, when was the first time?"

Claire laughed incredulously. "I was asking _you_ that!" she protested.

Sirius shrugged. "I'm asking you first."

Claire was still smiling absurdly. Then she came to her senses and her mouth closed. She thought for a moment. "Mmm… end of fifth year, I think. Yeah, it was my sixteenth birthday, I remember–" She suddenly blushed profusely.

Sirius laughed and leaned forward to tilt her chin upward toward him. "Hey, don't be embarrassed, dear," he said.

Claire grinned through her blushing. "Well, what about you, then?" she demanded.

Sirius grinned back at her. "I want more details first," he insisted.

Claire looked incredulous again. "Tell me _your_ details first, pervert! And make them good, damn it!" she added as an afterthought.

Sirius burst out laughing. "Fine, don't tell me," he gasped at last.

Claire pursed her lips. "Maybe I won't. But I still want to know yours."

Sirius looked at her thoughtfully. She was so pretty, and so collected, and so _exciting,_ what with being a year older than he was and having a boyfriend besides. What he would really have liked to do was lean forward and kiss her, and then make out with her in the deserted classroom while the quills finished their assignment for them. But that would never do; he had to be slyer.

"I'll tell you if you kiss me," he said.

Claire stared at him in shock for a moment. Then she said, "Sirius Black! You are _exactly_ as my friends say!"

Sirius swept his hair out of his eyes and surveyed her haughtily. "Is that a crime?"

Claire shook her head back and forth in thought, her lovely violet eyes wide. "I'm not sure."

Sirius laughed. "Oh, come on, Claire! Do it for posterity!"

Claire laughed, too. Despite herself, she did not feel uncomfortable with this conversation. "'For posterity?'" she repeated. "How on earth would my kissing you aid future generations?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, maybe not future generations, but–"

Claire shook her head. "Look, Sirius, I have a boyfriend. I can't be snogging random boys just so I can hear about how they lost their virginity."

Sirius shrugged again, and grinned despite himself. "Well, don't you want to see how you measure up to Dilys Merwyn? And besides, the tale of how I lost my virginity is fabulous; I wouldn't think you'd want to miss it."

Claire bit her lip in thought. Truth be told, she was feeling an overwhelming urge to kiss Sirius and just get it over with. _But Hector – _her subconscious interrupted. Claire shrugged that aside. _Hector doesn't need to know. Besides, I've dated Hector almost exclusively for nearly three years straight; I deserve a break, don't I? And anyway, how would it hurt him?_ At this, Claire felt a small surge of self-disdain, because she did not want to become disloyal, however insignificantly, to the man she felt she loved so completely.

But Sirius was sitting there, examining his fingernails idly and looking overwhelmingly attractive. "Made up your mind yet, Claire?" he asked lightly.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine," she agreed, "but this loss-of-virginity story better be pretty damn good."

Sirius smiled slyly. "Oh, it is," he assured her.

Claire stood up, took a step toward him, and kissed him squarely on the lips. She pulled back a second later.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Claire, that was pitiful," he alleged. "Honestly, you make even Inessa Barrington seem skilled."

Still less than a foot away from him, Claire raised her eyebrows. "You've kissed Inessa Barrington? She is, like, the most un-whorish girl I know."

Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, well, don't act so surprised. And besides, we were drunk and she still couldn't kiss for shit."

Claire smiled. "My apologies."

Sirius narrowed his eyes more exaggeratedly. "What you _really_ should be apologizing for is that pathetic excuse for a kiss you just gave me. Inessa Barrington's starting to look quite appealing by comparison."

Claire rolled her eyes. "I'll bet."

Sirius raised one eyebrow at her keenly. "You can kiss, Claire; I see you doing it to Zabini all the time. Now, if you want to hear that fascinating story in its entirety, I suggest you do it properly."

Claire exhaled in annoyance, and glanced skyward. "Sirius, what did you expect?" she began. But then she thought, _to hell with it._ She wanted to hear the story and she was sick of this detour into kissing abilities. _Besides_, she thought, _he's Sirius Black; he'll always get what he wants in the end._ In addition, though this was not as important, Claire Delacour _was_ a good kisser, and she knew it. A tiny part of her did not appreciate being compared to Inessa Barrington, commonly regarded as the most ridiculously chaste, if correspondingly pretty, girl in Hufflepuff.

"Fine," Claire relented. She looked back down at Sirius to find him studying her with a bit of a grin on his face. Gently, she tilted his chin toward her and lowered her mouth to his.

In the midst of the passion of getting to kiss Claire, Sirius was impressed despite himself. The girl clearly knew what she was doing; not too much tongue, not pushing too hard, letting him feel more in control…

_Shit,_ he thought, _she's too good. I am never going to be happy again if I do not get to make out with this girl at some point in my life. _He realized that this was probably not entirely true; he could be happy at some point, surely, and there were plenty of other girls out there who could measure up to Claire. But still… he was not currently infatuated with any of those other girls…

After a substantial period of time – enough for all of those thoughts to flit through Sirius's head, at the minimum – Claire pulled away. Then she raised her eyebrows as if to say, "Well?"

Sirius grinned at her. "I knew you had it in you," he said.

Claire smiled slightly. "How'd I compare to Dilys Merwyn?" she murmured.

"Blew her out of the water," Sirius stated at once.

Claire giggled. "I try." Then she stepped back to the desk opposite and sat down again. "Now then: you were going to tell me about that virginity-losing experience you had."

Sirius took a deep breath and cleared his throat. "Alright. You certainly earned the right to hear it, might I add–" and Claire smiled despite herself.

"How old were you?" she persisted.

Sirius smiled. "Fourteen."

Claire raised her eyebrows in amusement. "And who was the lucky girl?"

"Olivia León, then a sixth year," Sirius stated.

Claire squinted in thought. "Olivia León, Olivia León… which house?"

"Gryffindor."

Claire squinted some more. "Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly. "I think I remember her… pretty tan girl with long hair?"

Sirius nodded. "Correct."

Claire smiled at him. "And she was two years older than you, Sirius? You do get around."

Sirius winked at her and smiled. "That I do."

Claire got his implication and rolled her eyes. "By the way, Sirius, kindly don't mention that kissing incident to anybody outside of this room."

Sirius smirked. "Of course not." When Claire narrowed her eyes at him, however, he said sincerely, "No, don't worry about it; I won't." This wasn't entirely true; he would probably tell James, Remus, and Peter, but nobody more.

Claire nodded. "But on with that story, then… how did it come to happen?"

Sirius smiled slightly. "Quite simple, really: it was Christmas break, we were bored, and she had some alcohol on her."

Claire frowned. "That is almost the most boring story I've ever heard, Sirius."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Fine. You want the details?" Claire nodded. "Then you'll get them," Sirius affirmed.

The gist of the story was as follows:

It was in his fourth year that Sirius lost his virginity to Olivia León, then a sixth year, over Christmas break. Olivia was quite pretty, with a tan complexion and green eyes, and she was bored; none of her friends were staying at school over the holidays. Similarly, Sirius's friends had all headed home at their parents' insistence, and despite James's offer for Sirius to spend the holidays at his house, Sirius had not signed up in time to take the train to London and so was spending Christmas alone.

The summer before fourth year had been the one in which Sirius grew. He was now tall, as tall as Dilys Merwyn (now a seventh year), who had commented such to him on the train on the first day of term. Now he was also very, very hot, and he knew it.

Olivia found Sirius in the common room and asked if he wanted to get drunk in celebration of the end of autumn term.

"Black? My name's Olivia. Olivia León. Listen, my friends and I bought plenty of swill before school ended. Want to join me for a shot of firewhisky?"

Sirius shrugged, swept his hair out of his eyes, and grinned.

Olivia laughed. She had dimples, as well as a very infectious laugh, and so he barked out a laugh, too.

Then he said, "I know who you are." He did; he knew who all of the pretty girls were, even if they were two years older than he was.

They went up into his dormitory (he couldn't climb the stairs to hers, after all) and soon the two of them were chatting like old friends, drinking bottles of ale and having a grand time. In truth, neither was terribly drunk; Sirius had been drunk several times before, and he knew that he needed way more alcohol than this to start losing control.

Olivia, too, did not drink much. However, she did start truly appreciating just how hot this Sirius fellow what. For one thing, he was taller and stronger than her boyfriend. For another, he was very good a flirting. And for a third, that damn Harvey (her boyfriend) had gone and ditched her for the Christmas holidays, the asshole.

When Sirius reached over and ran his fingers gently through her feathery dark brown waves of hair, Olivia stuck her hand out and ran her own fingers through his shaggy, darker hair. They laughed together.

Then she leaned forward and kissed him. It was as simple as that.

Pretty soon, the two of them were in their underwear, laughing and drinking some more, and then, still not _really _drunk, albeit significantly tipsy, they were naked on Sirius's four-poster bed. They were both highly enjoying themselves, and they both knew what they were doing.

Over the next two weeks of Christmas break, Sirius and Olivia had many more entertaining hours of getting drunk and having sex in Sirius's dormitory. Both of them knew that this was not a long-term thing, and they accepted it as such.

When school resumed again, they rarely talked. Olivia never told her boyfriend about what she had been up to during the holidays, and he never suspected. Though she and Sirius would say "hello" to one another in the corridors for the first few weeks of January, Olivia explained their sudden familiarity away to Harvey with effortless ease.

"We chatted a bit over Christmas break. After all, hardly anyone stayed at school over the holidays and he really is quite an amusing kid."

Sirius, for his part, told his friends about what had happened but emphasized how unimportant it was to him. "Oh, come off it, Remus. We both knew all along it wasn't going to be anything beyond the holidays," he said one evening, rolling his eyes.

"But how could you possibly feel… I dunno… _comfortable _doing it so… so… _casually_?" Remus demanded.

James laughed. "Look here. I wouldn't complain much if Olivia León invited me to get drunk with her. I'd probably play it by ear just as much as he did."

"Likewise," Peter agreed. "And after all, if both of them are okay with it, why do you care so much, Remus?"

Remus shrugged, and then threw his hands into the air in defeat. "Fine. Whatever. I don't care."

Sirius smiled slightly. "Well, I'm glad I have your permission for acting like a man-whore…"

James and Peter laughed, and Remus couldn't help but smile, too.

Now, Claire smiled. "And that was just the beginning," she mused. "Look at all the people you've done now."

Sirius shrugged. "Well, at least I enjoy life. But you, Claire, tell me more details about that first time with Zabini. We had a deal, remember?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Fine. So, it was my sixteenth birthday and Hector and I had been dating for over a year. He snuck into the Ravenclaw common room one night – it wasn't the first time, we'd gone into one another's common rooms loads of times before – and then we went up to my dormitory and that was that."

"What about your roommates, Claire?" Sirius interjected. "I should think they'd be somewhat disturbed by the two of you–"

"They knew better than to come in, you think I hadn't talked to them before, fool?" Claire interrupted.

Sirius smiled. "My apologies. But Claire, why is this such a touchy subject for you? I'm sorry, but you're awfully closeted when compared to, say, me."

Claire smiled appreciatively. "I don't know… I guess I think that it's not really your business."

"Well, it's _not_," Sirius agreed, "but you were the one who wanted to trade dirty secrets."

Claire nodded. "I know… well, ask me something else, and I'll answer honestly."

Sirius grinned. "Ah, the possibilities…" he mused, cracking the knuckles on one of his hands sadistically until Claire said,

"Stop that, you freak of nature!"

Then Sirius laughed and countered, "Do you dislike me, Claire?"

She frowned, then stood up and came over to sit beside him on the desk, where she swung her legs back and forth and studied her fingernails for a few moments.

"Hmm… long hesitation: not a positive sign," Sirius mused with a hint of a grin, supremely unconcerned. After all, he knew that Claire liked him; she wouldn't have kissed him if she didn't. He had only asked the question because he wanted to kiss her again, and forcing her to admit that she did not dislike him seemed like a good lead-in to a make out session.

Claire, meanwhile, laughed. Then she turned to him and said, "No, I don't dislike you, Sirius. I don't dislike you at all. I actually quite enjoy having these little chats with you every afternoon."

Sirius couldn't help but grin more broadly. She was walking right into this; it was almost as if she _wanted_ to cheat on that damn Zabini. "And I like you, too, Claire," he replied promptly. "I like you quite a lot. You are also highly entertaining to talk to. Even if you _are_ in love with that Zabini bloke."

A corner of Claire's mouth twitched into a smile, but the other half stayed where it was. _What have I done? _she thought to herself. He liked her, it was quite obvious, but Claire was used to that, was used to having boys like her… it was something else, something that kept nagging at her conscience. As she stared distractedly into his lovely gray eyes, now only a foot from her face, Claire suddenly realized that she liked him, too. _No,_ she thought desperately, _I can't like Sirius, I can't! I'm in love with Hector! I love Hector!_

And it was true, she did love Hector. But now she also had this aggravating attraction to Sirius Black, which was nothing like the way she felt for Hector Zabini, but which needed fulfillment nonetheless.

"Sirius, I–" she began, not sure what to say. "I don't–"

But now it was Sirius's turn to tilt her chin upward and bring his mouth to hers, and this time Claire didn't know what to do, because, try as her conscience might, she did not want to stop him.

Finally, Claire felt his tongue filling her mouth and realized amid her feelings of pleasure that she couldn't be doing this. "Wait!" she gasped.

Sirius pulled back, looking into her beautiful violet eyes concernedly.

"I – I can't do this!" Claire mumbled. "It's not… it's not right."

Sirius raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Oh, it feels pretty right to me, Claire."

Claire took a deep breath to steady herself, and Sirius brought his hand to her face to brush her shock of dark bangs off of her forehead. And while Claire stared at him, still not sure what she really wanted to do – indeed, that steadying breath had only made her want to keep kissing him – Sirius slid his hand to the back of her head and pulled her toward him, and kissed her again, more gently this time, so that Claire could resist if she wanted to.

But she didn't. Claire could feel her conscience urging her to walk away, tell him off, be loyal to Hector, _anything_. But the rest of her would not hear of it, and soon the protests of her conscience had died away to a steady hum of guilt, and Claire was sitting in Sirius's lap and kissing him more passionately than she had ever kissed Hector. (Of course, this was partly because Sirius was a better kisser.)

Meanwhile, the quills continued to categorize tirelessly, making a persistent scratching noise as they wrote out endless annotations on the parchment.

-

"You two have certainly come up to speed," Professor Lamont commented stiffly as she surveyed the hefty stack of neatly filled out parchment lying on the desk.

"Well, it took a few days to get into the swing of it, Professor," Claire explained.

"Now we're experts," Sirius added. He was feeling very contented with himself, and couldn't help but smirk slightly. He had just spent the last hour making out with Claire Delacour, a girl one year his senior who was already involved with a very good-looking and suave Slytherin, and _they hadn't even been drunk_.

"So… can we go down to dinner, then, Professor?" Claire asked sweetly, blinking a few times and brushing her bangs to one side.

Professor Lamont did not reply at once. Indeed, she might have been slightly annoyed, though her droopy eyes and perpetually moody countenance made it difficult to discern specific feelings.

"I suppose so," she said grudgingly, "but mind you two come on time tomorrow… and don't think you can slack off then, just because you did lots of work today!"

"Of course not, Professor," Claire said at once. She turned to Sirius and jerked her head significantly toward the door, implying that they should both leave.

Sirius gave her a hint of a smile, grabbed his book bag, and followed her from the room.

"Well, that categorization shit was a success," Claire remarked cheerfully.

"Yeah, don't forget to thank Linnet Blakely for me," Sirius replied.

Claire smiled. "Go thank her yourself." She paused for a moment, and then added, "She likes you, you know… sort of an infatuation, I think. She didn't say anything to me about it, of course, but it was _so_ obvious." She changed her tone of voice. "_Oh, Linnet, I have detention with Sirius Black and we have to do this categorization shit… could you help me figure out how to do it by magic?_

"_Oh, okay, Claire… wait, who did you say you had detention with?_

"_Sirius Black._

"_Oh, him… oh, okay._"

Claire shook her head and smiled pityingly. "And then you told me you had no idea who she was and that she 'didn't sound like your type.'"

Sirius smiled, too. "Well, she doesn't. And besides, how is it my fault if random girls I don't know start falling for me?"

Claire shrugged. "Well, it's not… but you could still go and thank her personally; it'd probably make her day."

Sirius continued to smile. "Linnet Blakely… the over-achieving Linnet Blakely… alright; can do. I'll be all gallant, and everything."

Claire looked at him sternly. "Yes, and be sure not to act like an ass as you usually do, because it would be a shame to burst her bubble."

Sirius grinned. "Calling me an ass, now, Claire? That's a bit of a departure from what you were saying an hour ago."

Claire blushed slightly and smiled. "Technically, I wasn't saying _anything_ an hour ago," she murmured, glancing at her watch.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "I love it when you become flirtatious despite yourself."

Claire laughed too, and shrugged. "I'm glad you're entertained."

Hector Zabini came strolling around the corner, talking to a friend of his from Slytherin and looking distinctly jovial. "Claire!" he called out, hurrying toward her.

"_Cher!_" Claire responded, mimicking his joviality and come up to greet him. Zabini kissed her tenderly, and Claire smiled up at him. "What's the occasion?" she murmured.

Zabini shrugged. "Happy to see you. Happy detention is over."

Claire kissed him again. "Me too."

The anonymous friend from Slytherin rolled his eyes. "Are you two done yet?" he demanded jokingly.

"Oh, hello, Eddie," said Claire, pretending to have just noticed him.

Eddie, whom Sirius now recognized as Edric Nott, a seventh year who played beater on the Slytherin Quidditch team and who had given James six concussions over the past two years, rolled his eyes again. "Hello to you too, Claire." He had a drawling sort of voice that Sirius found somewhat annoying.

Hector Zabini laughed. "Glad that's all sorted out."

Claire turned back to glance at Sirius. "See you, Sirius!" she called, as Zabini put his arm around her and the two of them, accompanied by Edric Nott, began to make their way down toward the Great Hall.

Sirius frowned. He did not feel terribly hurt by the manner in which Claire had brushed him aside; on the contrary, he had expected no less. But he still felt a tug of envy as he watched Hector Zabini, who was as tall as Sirius himself and so a good head above Claire, lead her away.

Sirius continued to frown. The two of them were far too good-looking a couple: Zabini, with his dark skin and white teeth, and Claire, with her creamy skin and violet eyes. _They'll have ridiculously attractive children_, Sirius thought peevishly.

And Sirius did not like that Edric Nott. Then again, he didn't like any of the Slytherins.

"Nott is fucking enamored of her," said a voice to his left. He turned to see two girls, both of whom he recognized as Slytherins, watching Claire and Zabini as well. The voice had come from the nearer of the two girls, Audrey Granada, a tall sixth year with dark brown eyes frames by thick black eyelashes and short black hair, which fanned out at her chin. Sirius had never spoken to her in his life, though he knew who she was; from what he heard, she was something of a whore.

The other girl, shorter than Audrey and with weaker features, wrinkled her nose. "Yes, but I can change his mind… I mean, _you_ think I can, don't you, Audrey?"

Audrey shrugged. "If you try hard enough… but think about it, Kelly; do you really want someone who lets himself get infatuated with his best friend's girlfriend?"

Kelly – Sirius hadn't known her name before Audrey had said it – opened her mouth, but then Audrey noticed Sirius watching them idly. "Nose out, Black," she said sharply.

He smiled at her coldly (normally he reserved his cold smiles for the males of Slytherin, but he was in an aggravated mood) and turned away, walking down the corridor in the direction of the Great Hall.

So Nott was in love with Claire, was he? Sirius nearly snorted derisively. So that was why he hadn't liked the looks of him… he would be sure to bring this up with Claire tomorrow during detention; he wanted to hear her take on it.

-

Down in the Great Hall, dinner had commenced and James, Remus, and Peter were sitting at the Gryffindor table, stuffing themselves with roast beef and plum pudding.

"How was detention?" James asked brightly.

"How's Claire?" Remus added, equally bright.

Sirius smirked. "Well, detention was lovely; Claire had some Ravenclaw girl teach her how to categorize by magic, so…" he suddenly remembered his promise to thank Linnet Blakely personally "…I have to go and thank the girl now," he finished.

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Which girl?" he asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Her name's Linnet Blakely. Apparently she's quite the little over-achiever."

Peter opened his mouth in surprise. "I know her!" he announced. "She's quite shy herself, but she has… nice friends."

James snorted. "Is she friends with Coralee Schuyler by any chance?" he asked airily.

Peter smiled. "Perhaps." Coralee Schuyler, a Ravenclaw fifth year with pretty blonde hair and freckles, had shown an interest in Peter of late.

Remus smiled, too. "Well, why don't you go along with Padfoot, Wormtail, and you can say hello to her while he's thanking the Blakely kid."

Peter grinned appreciatively. "I will."

"Well, get a move on, will you? I don't have all day," Sirius grumbled.

Peter stood up and the two of them made their way over to the Ravenclaw table, where Sirius spotted Linnet Blakely at once. She was a slight little thing with large round glasses, and she seemed to notice him immediately, too.

While Peter stepped off to the right to say hello to Coralee Schuyler, Sirius spotted Claire sitting further down to his left. She and one of her friends (a pretty girl named Dione Carlisle whom Sirius had dated for a while during the fall, and who, due to the unfortunate incident of running into Sirius making out with another girl, now harbored utter resentment toward him) had glanced over at him. Sirius smiled at Claire serenely, and then made his way past Peter to where Linnet Blakely was sitting.

She stared up at him.

"It's Linnet, isn't it?" he asked pleasantly.

She nodded.

"Well, I wanted to thank you for showing Claire how to do that categorization thing. It made detention today significantly more bearable."

Linnet nodded again, and smiled shyly. "You're… you're welcome," she whispered. Her friends had all turned to look at Sirius now, too, including Coralee Schuyler; Peter looked a tad put out.

"Right… well, I must be getting back to dinner now," Sirius said awkwardly. "Um… thanks again!"

Linnet Blakely smiled. She had a surprisingly pleasant smile; her teeth were straight and she had pronounced dimples, like Claire.

"Come on, Wormtail; let's get back," Sirius instructed briskly, and he and Peter turned back toward their table. As they went, Sirius looked over his shoulder at Claire, who was still watching him. She winked at him, and he couldn't help but smile back.

-

Back up in their dormitory that evening, James, Remus, and Peter demanded more information on the intricacies of Sirius's detention.

"How'd you cope with two hours of Claire?" Remus prodded.

Sirius grinned. "Oh, I told her I wouldn't tell her about how I lost my virginity unless she kissed me."

This was such a direct and Sirius-in-a-nutshell response that Remus, James, and Peter all burst out laughing.

"Are you serious?" James demanded at last, clutching his ribs in pain as he gasped for breath.

"I'm always Sirius," Sirius replied haughtily.

James rolled his eyes. "That joke would be far more amusing if you didn't make it twelve times a day."

"Let's try again," Remus substituted. "Are you speaking in complete honesty, Sirius?"

Sirius frowned. "I _always_ speak in complete honesty," he replied. "After all," and here he grinned slyly, "I'm always Sirius, aren't I?"

"Oh, shut up already!" James groaned. "I'm guessing you didn't pull that shit on Claire… why can't you do us the same courtesy?"

Sirius pondered the question. "Well, I would have pulled 'that shit,' as you say, on Claire had she given me the proper lead in, but I distinctly do not remember her saying at any point during detention, 'are you serious, Sirius?'" He frowned in thought. "Or maybe she did, but I missed the cue..."

He would have continued to muse on in a similar fashion, but James interrupted, "Yeah, that's fascinating, Padfoot, but tell us what the result was of your demanding that she kiss you... wait, and why did she want to hear about how you lost your virginity in the first place?"

Sirius smiled serenely. "Oh, we were having a pleasant chat about it; Claire's quite one to swap the dirty secrets. But I told her she couldn't have the details unless she kissed me, because I mean – come on – I had to demand that _some_time."

Peter, James, and Remus all laughed and shook their heads. "Well? Did she do it?" Peter demanded eagerly.

Sirius smiled more broadly. "Oh, yes…"

Remus stared at him in disbelief. "But, she has a boyfriend! I must say, my opinion of her has dropped severely…"

Sirius frowned at him. "Don't go rapping on Claire; it was _my_ fault. But anyway, the _first_ kiss she gave me was _pitiful_, but then we had a lively discussion on kissing inadequacies and she agreed to give it another try."

James snorted with laughter. "And you made out with her, did you?" he asked, and Sirius gave a shrug of affirmation. "I must say, Padfoot," James remarked, "that it is rather ironic… I mean, one night you're lamenting over the fact that Miss Delacour is out of reach, and the next you're snogging her for hours in a deserted classroom."

Sirius smiled slowly. "Yeah… I love my life." Then he looked around at his three friends. "By the way, I think it goes without saying that this information does not leave our dormitory. I mean, you know, for _Claire's _sake."

"No shit," James remarked, nodding solemnly.

Remus and Peter nodded their understanding as well. "Don't worry about it, mate," Peter added.

"Your dirty secrets are safe with us," Remus promised.

-

The next day at detention, Sirius skipped into the classroom happily and almost on time, eager to make out with Claire again.

Claire was a good ten minutes late, as usual. When she finally swept in, her dark brown hair pinned back elegantly to one side and her violet eyes sparkling, Sirius couldn't help but grin at her.

Claire gave him a pleasant smile.

"Late again, Miss Delacour," Professor Lamont commented woefully, looking at the clock. "You had best get to work straight away, then… I shall be back soon…" and with that, she left the room, locking the door behind her as always.

Sirius burst out laughing. "She really is clueless, that woman," he remarked.

Claire nodded fervently. "_Mais oui_… Hey Sirius, I was wondering last night, do you speak French?"

Sirius shrugged. "_Bonjour… Je m'appelle Sirius… Le petit fromage_…"

Claire smiled. "Impressive."

"Well, I try."

Claire continued to smile, though now it seemed more forced. "Listen, Sirius? I think we need to have a little chat about what we were up to yesterday."

Sirius exhaled slowly and sat down on a desk. He had been expecting this. "What, the 'snogging like bunnies' bit?"

Claire sighed and sat down opposite him. "It's just… I have a boyfriend. And I really like you, don't get me wrong, but… I love Hector. And I already feel guilty for what we did yesterday, and he doesn't even suspect anything."

Sirius frowned. "Don't feel guilty, Claire; it was my fault," he said suavely.

Claire frowned, too. "Don't say that, you fool! It was my fault as much as it was yours! And I really _enjoyed _it, Sirius; that's the problem! I really like you and I really liked kissing you, and last night after dinner I had to take a midnight stroll with Hector and think about you the entire time!"

Sirius grinned. "You thought about me the _entire time_?"

Claire smiled despite herself. "Well, not the _entire_ time, but whenever Hector kissed me or I kissed him – nearly the entire time comprised of us doing that, you see – I'd get this flash of us snogging in here during detention! And I hated that I was doing that, Sirius!"

Sirius attempted to change his grin to a bemused smile, but it was proving difficult. "Well, what do you want to do about it?" he asked reasonably.

Claire shook her head slowly. "I don't know… I'll have to tell Hector some time, I guess… maybe not yet, but…"

Sirius frowned. "Claire, have you considered that you're really under no obligation to Zabini and that perhaps you could do with a break from him?"

Claire closed her eyes and seemed to think. Finally she said, "Sirius, you don't understand… but I know that you can't." She looked up at him searchingly with her beautiful violet eyes, and Sirius felt himself longing to kiss her again. "Sirius... you've never really been in love, have you?"

Sirius weighed his head from side to side, considering. Finally he shook his head and grinned sheepishly. "No, I don't reckon I have."

Claire nodded. "And that's just it: you don't understand. I… I love Hector, I really and truly do, and I like you, too, but I can't just break up with Hector because of it."

Sirius frowned. "Claire, why can't we just snog like yesterday and get it over with?"

Claire groaned. "Sirius, you aren't making this easy for me at all."

Sirius smirked at her. "Did you expect me to?"

Claire shrugged. "Well, no… but I was hoping you'd have a little bit of pity." She suddenly groaned, stood up, and came over to sit beside him, where she leaned her head against his shoulder and stared off wistfully across the room. "Sirius… don't you think I _want_ to be able to kiss you? Don't you think I'd _love_ to make out with you right now? But I can't do it… it's not fair to Hector and I really, really don't want to hurt him."

Sirius put his arm around her and turned his head to study her face. To his surprise, Claire was looking at him already. Their eyes were inches apart. It would be _so easy_ to kiss her again, right now…

"What Hector doesn't know won't hurt him," Sirius murmured. Then he leaned forward those last few inches and kissed her on the lips.

It was a very sweet kiss, and Claire felt a little dizzy from it. But after a few moments she came to her senses and pulled away. "Sirius, _don't!_" she groaned. "_Please_ don't!"

Sirius grinned despite himself. "Oh, come on, Claire," he complained, "just go with it."

Claire really, really wanted to listen to him, and she felt herself giving in again. Sirius kissed her for a few more moments until she came to her senses again and tried to pull away.

He wouldn't let her. He slid the arm that had been around her shoulders down to the small of her back, and pulled her into him, sliding his tongue oh-so-gently into her mouth and bringing up his other hand to caress her hair and bring her head toward him more firmly.

Claire relented. She was hardly aware of what she was doing, so sensual was the experience. When she came to her senses again, she realized that he had pulled her into his lap, and that she was straddling his waist now, her arms wrapped around him and her body pressed against his so tightly that she could feel his heart beating through his robes.

They both stopped for breath, and Claire groaned again. "Sirius," she whispered, burying her face in his neck, "what _are_ we doing?"

Sirius kissed her forehead. "I should have thought it was quite obvious," he observed, smiling.

Claire kissed his neck, and then his chin. She loved how secure she felt, here in Sirius's arms. He was at least as tall as Hector, and slightly more muscular… Claire had always had a thing for tall, strong men; being with them made her feel safe.

Idly, Claire remembered that Sirius was nearly year younger than she was. It was strange; she hadn't thought about that in days. But then, after all, it didn't really matter…

Her lips were delicately swollen by this time, and she kissed his again, feeling guilty and adventurous all at once, and wanting this feeling never to end.

-

It was almost thirty minutes before either of them remembered the categorization they were supposed to be completing.

"Shit… we need to make those quills start doing our work for us," Claire murmured at last, pulling back from Sirius to look at him.

Sirius grinned. "Well, don't get up or anything."

Claire smiled and climbed off of his lap. Once standing on the floor, she stretched and took a deep breath.

Sirius continued to grin. "No, I was serious. You didn't need to get up."

Claire laughed, grabbed his hands in hers, and pulled him to his feet. They stepped toward the stack of parchment, extracted their quills from their book bags, and pulled out their wands.

"Now remember, you have to twirl it at the end to get it to change into English," Claire said, swishing her wand around and causing her quill to leap up and stand at attention.

Sirius put his arm around her casually and flicked his own wand; his quill dipped itself in the inkwell and made a few practice marks on a corner of parchment.

Within a few more moments, the quills were both categorizing at top speed, and Sirius and Claire sat back down on a desktop.

"So. Sirius," Claire began. "I see that you personally thanked Linnet Blakely yesterday."

Sirius smiled in recollection. "Oh, yeah. Nice enough kid… a bit shy, though."

Claire nodded. "Well, she was over the moon about it. I figured you should know… she came up to me in the common room later and told me that you'd thanked her." She changed her tone of voice. "_Oh, Claire… so, Sirius Black thanked me for the spell at dinner… um… he's really nice… um… yeah._"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "She thinks I'm nice, now, does she?"

Claire shrugged. "I figured I wouldn't correct her. Besides, it's best to let her have her little infatuation..."

Sirius smiled ruefully. "Yeah, 'little infatuation…' I suppose I should be flattered, right?"

Claire grinned. "Oh, I don't think you need the flattery, Sirius; you've already got more than enough self-confidence as it is."

"Why, thank you."

Claire gave an ironic sort of laugh. "Well, you're welcome, but… it does sort of get on my nerves."

Not at all perturbed, Sirius pulled her closer to him and turned to smile at her. "And why is that, Claire?" he whispered.

She squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to avoid looking at him, but then she opened them again and murmured, "Why do you think, Sirius?"

Sirius grinned. "I'm asking you, Claire."

Claire wrinkled her nose at him and leaned in closer. "You already know, Sirius."

He continued to grin. "I want to hear you say it."

Claire caught her breath and stared at him for a while, as if trying to decide if saying this were worth it. "Because there's no way to make you leave me alone," she said at last. "There's no way for me to resist kissing you or _anything_ because you're too confident and you _always_ get what you want."

Sirius smirked. "But you like it, Claire," he observed quietly.

She couldn't help but grin at him. "I do, so help me," she whispered. Then he kissed her again, and she allowed him to do so without protest.

* * *

Yay, I got four reviews! Wow, I didn't think I would get any!

Livid: I'm glad you were entertained!

Lainia26: Why, thank you; I will!

Potpoury: Thank you and thank you! I try; I certainly will!

IChooseTheScorpion: Haha, thank you. Yeah, I noticed that thing in OotP too. And yeah, I concur on the RAB thing. As for Snape… well, he's my knew character-of-whom-I-want-to-learn-more.

And please review if you've read this chapter; I'd like to hear your thoughts!


	3. Of Passion Unleashed

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **PG-13, but only barely. When you're done with this chapter, let me know if you think it should have been R (M). I know Chapter Four will probably be such.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out; I went on vacation for a week!

* * *

Chapter Three

_Of Passion Unleashed_

Lamont had returned to check on their progress. Sirius and Claire nearly fell off of the desk on which they were perched, still kissing one another passionately, when they heard the doorknob jiggling.

"Shit," Sirius remarked casually as Claire pulled herself out of his lap and ran to the stack of parchment and the ceaselessly-laboring quills. She grabbed the raven feather, pulled up a chair, and sat down; Sirius leapt to his place beside her and snatched up his own quill. It struggled, trying to continue its task.

"Making lots of progress, I see," Lamont observed dully from the doorway a few seconds later.

Sirius and Claire looked over at her casually. "Oh, yes, Professor," Claire affirmed at once, giving her a pleasant smile.

Lamont did not smile back; instead, she strode across the room to inspect the stack of parchment the quills had already finished with. Then she nodded her approval. "Good, good, Mr. Black; your categorization skills are improving."

She lifted a leaf from the pile that bore Claire's handwriting. "And Miss Delacour… very good, very good..."

Claire smiled graciously. "Why, thank you, Professor."

Lamont barely stifled a roll of her droopy eyes. She knew the accursed child was only trying to suck up to her. _That Claire Delacour…_

Lamont had first met her several weeks previously when she had begun substituting at Hogwarts. Claire was a clever girl – all of the Ravenclaws were – and decent at Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Lamont could not help but feel uneasy around her. Claire was too confident, too smooth, too good at always avoiding trouble. _That girl could get away with murder if she wanted to_, Lamont remembered observing on the second day of class when Claire talked herself out of trouble regarding failure to properly perform an appropriate defensive hex during an important test.

"I'm not sure what's come over me, Professor," she announced in front of the entire class when Lamont demanded to know why she had been unable to perform the spell. "I mean, I know I could do it last night… I _practiced_ last night, Professor. And was doing it just fine _then_… it's just…" Claire appeared to think for a moment before continuing more quietly, "…it's just that my brother was married over Easter, and I don't really like his wife, and – I don't know – I guess the stress has been taking its toll on me." Claire Delacour then gave Professor Lamont a sincere look, and said, her voice full of remorse, "I promise if you give me one more night to practice, Professor, I'll be able to do it tomorrow."

What could Lamont do? Her instincts were telling her that Claire was not being entirely honest, but it was only her second day teaching; she couldn't just punish the damn girl on a hunch. So she gave in, and the next day Claire Delacour came into class perfectly prepared and performed the hex without difficulty.

Lamont never found out why Claire _really_ hadn't been able to complete the test, but she had shrewd suspicions. _It was probably that boyfriend of hers_, she had mused dully soon after the students had departed on that second day of class. _She was probably with him all night._

Indeed, there had been numerous other instances in which Claire Delacour had not finished her work, but every time she had simply talked her way boldly out of the situation. This was why Claire Delacour disturbed Professor Lamont: because she was too confident and she was too pretty and she was too goddamn _smooth_. _If she ever turns to evil, they'll be no stopping her,_ the Professor had observed wryly one evening while reading through a flawless essay of Claire's which had been turned in two days late. _If she ever gets the wrong prodding, she'll be destined for infamy._

None of the other teachers noticed this about Claire Delacour; they all looked upon her as a bright, friendly, eager student, pleasant to teach and to have in class. In addition, all of the other teachers overlooked – and in most cases failed to notice altogether – the fact that Claire persistently weaseled her way out of trouble. Lamont suspected that _she _noticed simply because she had been an Auror for twenty years and had thus been trained to look for such traits in people.

So it was that when Professor Lamont came across Claire Delacour and her boyfriend Hector Zabini at two o'clock in the morning in a narrow side corridor (luckily it was dark, but Lamont still had a pretty good idea of what the two of them had been in the middle of doing), she refused to hear Claire's wily arguments and explanations (Hector simply stood to the side, watching his girlfriend amusedly to see if she would be able to get them out of trouble _this _time) and instead informed the wayward lovers that they would be sitting out detention for two weeks as a punishment for breaking the rules governing chastity and sexual conduct, not to mention those concerning curfew.

"You are welcome, Miss Delacour," Lamont said back in the present, avoiding Claire's eyes as she glanced back toward Sirius.

He annoyed her, too, that Mr. Black, but it was for far more common reasons. He, too, was overly self-assured, but while Claire was sly in the ways of a natural deceiver, Sirius was childish and rude. He and that James Potter were always causing trouble in class, and poor Severus Snape, a brilliant boy whom Lamont had come to pity over the last three weeks, was always facing their bullying and wrath.

Sirius was nowhere near as smooth with authority as Claire Delacour. He was at ease and comfortable, never loosing his cool or becoming perturbed, but he was far too blatant about it. Sirius resonated confidence: he always got what he wanted, (especially, Lamont had noticed, when girls were involved,) but she knew that his good looks and charming nature could only get him so far.

When Lamont came across Severus Snape, her pity-case and one of her best students, foaming at the mouth, eyes, nose, and ears, and saw James Potter and Sirius Black standing to the side and laughing hysterically, she shook her head in disgust and put them both in detention for two weeks.

Now that she thought about it, Sirius and Claire together in detention was an interesting combination. Sirius had more willpower, more outward confidence, but Claire could certainly hold her own: pressure or a challenge only hyped up her ability to get her way.

"Well, I shall be back at seven to tell you when you are free to go," Lamont said lamely, feeling that she did not intuitively like either of the people seated before her and that it would be best to just leave them to their work.

"So long, Professor!" Sirius said cheerfully.

"See you," Claire added with another of her trademark smiles.

Lamont strode from the room and locked the door.

Claire laughed. "She doesn't like us," she remarked.

Sirius shrugged. "Well, none of my teachers likes me, so–"

Claire shook her head in disagreement and let go of her quill, allowing it to continue categorizing on its own. "Yes they do," she said at once. "You may be an ass, but I'm sure they all take it in stride and console themselves with the knowledge that you'll grow up to be a good citizen."

Sirius shrugged. "Well… Lamont doesn't like me. She likes Snape too much; it cancels out any positive feelings she could have toward his tormentor, see?"

Claire smiled. "Actually, I don't think she likes me either, though I can't figure out why…"

"Maybe because you suck up to her all the time," Sirius suggested dryly.

Claire laughed despite herself. "Maybe… but I bet I do that to all of my other teachers, too, and _they_ seem to like me well enough."

Sirius shrugged again. "Whatever… hey, Claire, question for you: so, I heard through the grapevine that Edric Nott's in love with you. What's your take?"

Claire stared at him for a moment, amused by this abrupt change of subject. Then she laughed easily. "Well, I'll tell you my 'take' once you tell me where you really heard this bit of news."

Sirius smiled. "If you must know, I was inadvertently eavesdropping on Granada and some friend of hers yesterday, and they happened to mention it."

Claire snorted derisively. "Granada and which friend? She has a tad too many to keep track of, if you hadn't noticed."

Sirius narrowed his eyes in thought. "Mmm… don't remember. Like, Kelsey or something."

Claire frowned. "Kelly, you mean? Kelly Drake?"

Sirius shrugged for the fourth time. "Probably. Are there any other Kellys in Slytherin?"

Claire shook her head. "Not that I know of… and they _would_ be talking about me, wouldn't they?" She seemed to be making this comment to herself, now.

"_Why_ would they be?" Sirius demanded.

Claire smiled slightly. "Well… Kelly Drake's completely enamored of Eddie, from what I've seen, and Audrey Granada is the biggest bitch this side of the English Channel."

Sirius grinned. "Is she? How so?"

Claire shrugged lightly. "Well… she had a thing for Hector a while back, I remember… and she's _such_ a whore, and _so_ flirtatious, it was driving me bloody mad."

Sirius smiled. "Yeah, you've got to hate those flirtatious people…"

Claire grinned. "Like hell."

"But anyway," Sirius continued, "what's your view on the subject of Nott having a thing for you? I mean, he's Hector's best friend, right?"

Claire shrugged. "Well… if you must know, I'm sort of indifferent toward it."

Sirius glanced up at her. "Do elaborate," he requested promptly.

Claire examined her fingernails in thought. "It's just… people have liked me in the past, too, but they always move on eventually. I mean, once they figure out that they–"

Sirius smirked. "–that they haven't got a chance, they move on and find new intrigues," he interrupted. He reached over and took her hands confidently. "But I haven't moved on just yet, Claire. It's curious, isn't it? Do you suppose it means that I _do_ have a chance?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Sirius, don't start."

"No, no! I'm actually curious," he said, nodding for emphasis. "I mean, well… just how many other guys have you had illicit flings with?"

Claire looked up at him in shock. She looked surprisingly hurt. "Sirius!" she exclaimed.

Sirius frowned, not expecting her to have taken his lighthearted comment so hard. "What's up with you?" he asked calmly, not entirely following.

Claire yanked her hands out of his and put them on her hips. "_Sacrebleu_, why don't you just say, 'No wonder she was so easy to snag, _la petite putain_, cheating on _son petit ami_ _pour la énième fois!_'?"

Sirius had no idea what she was talking about. "Goodness, Claire," he observed, "do you always lapse into French when you get angry?"

Claire glared at him for a moment. Then she took a deep breath and sat down again. "Usually," she admitted, nodding. She smiled slightly. "Hector always laughs when I do it."

"Does Hector _parle français_?" Sirius asked, somewhat curious and still not understanding what she was so mad about.

Claire nodded briskly. "Well, of course. His family's from Morocco, didn't you know that?"

Sirius shrugged. "Vaguely. But Claire – I don't get it – why are you so pissed off all of the sudden?"

Claire stood up again to glare at him emphatically, and Sirius had to work hard not to smile at her; she looked so sexy when she got mad, and when she started ranting at him in French… _well!_

"Because, Sirius," Claire was saying, slowly and deliberately, "_je ne suis pas une putain, et–_"

Sirius couldn't control himself any longer; his face cracked into a smile.

Claire grinned. "Just kidding." Then her countenance became more serious as she said, "Look, what I mean to tell you is that I'm not a whore, _despite_ snogging you for two days straight in an abandoned classroom. And I feel terrible for cheating on Hector – especially right now, what with you being a dick about everything – and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop making me feel so guilty!"

Sirius opened his mouth in surprise. He hadn't meant to make her feel guilty at all; at this point, he didn't even remember what he'd said in the first place to start this little tirade. "First of all, Claire," he said suavely, "I thought we'd agreed that the snogging thing was _my_ fault, and secondly, I _certainly_ don't think that you're a whore." He paused for a moment before adding, "It's quite possible that I'm being a dick about everything, though."

Claire continued to glare at him. "Then don't flippantly ask me how many other guys I've had 'illicit affairs' with before you."

"Oh, yeah." Now he remembered what he had said to get her so upset. Sirius took a deep breath. "Claire, I know that you're not a whore. I mean, seriously, you've had the same boyfriend for the past three years." He paused for a moment, the question that he really wanted to ask building on the tip of his tongue, before continuing, "What's wrong with you? I mean, you've taken all of my shit without complaint up 'til now. Why is this such a touchy subject?"

Claire shrugged, but then couldn't help but smile slightly. "I… I really don't know," she admitted resignedly.

Sirius frowned at her for a moment, thinking. "It's because you don't like feeling as if you're being taken advantage of, isn't it?" he realized with a start.

Claire stared at him for a moment. "Yes, I suppose it is." She sat back to ponder that. Indeed, she did not like feeling taken advantage of. Claire Delacour liked to have control of the situation, and though she was by nature attracted to confident people like Sirius Black, she did not want to feel used by them.

Oh, but it wasn't just that, Claire realized belatedly. How many times had Hector lectured her about it, how many times had he accused her, in effect, of being too much of a whore? Why, at Gerard's wedding only three weeks previously, Hector, whom Claire had asked to accompany her, could hardly stop whining to her:

"Claire, who exactly was that boy?"

"That? Oh, that's just my cousin Nico."

(_Disbelieving pause) _"He's your cousin?"

(_Incredulously) _"Yes, of course!"

And later:

"Well, Claire, looks like you've been having some fun dancing with the guests…"

"Oh, definitely! I love to dance; you know that!"

(_scornfully) _"You sure looked comfortable dancing with that last guy."

(_Incredulously) _"Oh, come on, Hector; that's just Charles! We've known each other since we were babies!"

(_still scornful)_ "Well, he sure seemed to enjoy kissing you back there behind the buffet."

_(rolling eyes) _"Oh, lighten up, Hector… don't worry about it…" (_grasping for the right words) _"I mean, come on, he's just Charles!"

And still later:

"Hey, Claire: where have you been?"

(_shrugging) _"Outside."

(_frowning)_ "With whom, may I ask?"

(_shrugging again) _"Oh, Alix, Corbin, Silvestre… you know, _that_ crowd."

(_continuing to frown)_ "And what were you doing?"

(_smiling slightly) _"Well, we got sick of the party and decided to go swimming."

(_eyebrows raised) _"In your formal clothes?"

(_smiling full out) _"What do _you _think?"

(_rolls eyes) _"Claire, did you just go _skinny dipping_ in the middle of your brother's wedding reception?"

(_grinning) _"Well, why not? Anyway, it's dark out; nobody saw."

(_Looking pissed off)_ "Claire, you just went skinny dipping with a group of guys. How much did you have to drink tonight?"

_(shrugging) _"Not too much. But hey, we do it _every_ time they come down to La Rochelle."

(_Exhales audibly) _"Good grief, Claire… why are you _always_…?" _(trails off)_

And so on. Claire hated it when Hector started chastising her for offenses that she really didn't consider to be serious. In Claire's mind, leaping exuberantly into her cousin Nico's arms was pure fun; kissing Charles, her childhood best friend, was only to be expected; and sneaking out to skinny dip with family friends from Tours in the pool out back was the usual entertainment when the grownups had retreated to the sitting room to drink and socialize. Then Sirius, the very person who had started this in the first place (_But I wanted it,_ Claire reminded herself. _I wouldn't have been able to say 'no,' but it didn't matter, because I wanted to say 'yes'_) unwittingly suggested that it wasn't just because of his infuriatingly seductive personality that Claire was cheating on Hector, suggested that she had done this before, just because that was who she was and what she did. Claire knew that Sirius was the first person she had ever met who could make her even consider being unfaithful, and so it was that his comment flat-out insulted her.

"But Claire," Sirius said briskly now, leaning back on his palms to watch her, "knowing very well that I'm not 'taking advantage of you,' and knowing that I don't think that you're a whore – _at all_, may I add – and knowing that I really liked it when you started yelling at me in French–" and here Claire couldn't help but smile "–is this really the first time you've cheated on Hector?"

Claire looked at him for a few moments from her perch on the desk. _Was_ this the first time she had cheated on Hector?Was kissing Charles considered infidelity? Was playing nude Truth or Dare in the dark of night with three boys while partially drunk considered infidelity? Claire did not consider it so, though Hector probably would have if he knew the full details.

But Claire was answering this question, not Hector (_Grâce à Dieu_, she almost murmured aloud) and so she nodded. "It is, actually."

Sirius smiled. "Good. Can I kiss you again now?"

Claire laughed. "Asking permission, are we?"

He stood up and crossed over to where she was sitting. She was wearing jeans beneath her robes, and he slid his hands over her thighs and around to the seat of her pants. He left his hands there, and Claire, still sitting on the desk but now with her legs straddling Sirius, who was standing against it, looked up at him from beneath her slanted dark bangs and could not help but smile. Sirius smiled, too, and pressed himself against her, letting one hand caress her back and squeezing her ass with the other. Claire wrapped her arms around his neck and gazed into his gray eyes, so unlike Hector's, which were a warm, deep brown.

Still tracing the small of her back casually with one finger, their bodies so close he could feel the heat coming off of her, Sirius stared at Claire. "Your eyes are purple," he realized with surprise.

"Violet, we call it," Claire replied lightly.

Sirius leaned in even closer to inspect them more acutely. He smelled like spices and loam and something else Claire couldn't name, but it made her want to swoon.

"Get your hair out of the way," Sirius murmured, and Claire slid one hand from the nape of his neck and put it to her forehead, where she swept her bangs more assuredly to one side.

"I always thought they were blue," Sirius remarked, leaning in so close that their noses brushed.

Claire gave a hint of a shrug. "Common mistake."

Sirius smiled. Then he touched her lips with his tongue, ever-so-gently, and Claire closed her beautiful violet eyes and didn't say a word.

-

April 28 was Sirius's birthday. He awoke to find James, Remus, and Peter all standing over him, and a large stack of brightly-wrapped gifts at the foot of his bed.

"Good morning, birthday boy!" James crowed.

"Good morning," said Sirius lightly, glancing around at the faces of his three friends.

"Now's the time when we all give you big birthday kisses," Peter informed him, trying to keep his expression serious as he leaned in closer and puckered his lips.

Sirius laughed. "No thanks," he replied pleasantly, holding up a pillow to block Peter's way. He turned to look toward the base of his bed. "Ooh! Presents!"

Peter grinned and gave up his measly efforts; James and Remus scooted out of the way as Sirius sat up, reached for the nearest gift, and tore off the red wrapping paper.

"Ooh! A book on Quidditch! Why, thank you, Moony! I must say, you can never have too many of these!"

Next he unearthed a bag of dungbombs and other illegal materials from James; a shoebox chock full of candy from Peter; a new Exploding Snap pack with attached friendly letter from the Potters; twelve boxes of chocolates from thirteen different girls, including one pretty box from James's neighbor Tara Nevan and her friend Evetta Niall ("The one from Tara's probably okay, but the rest are probably full of love potions," James remarked. Then he frowned. "Or else poison… I mean, you've broken a lot of hearts lately, Padfoot…"); the usual collection of letters, money, and trinkets from his small selection of decent relatives (Cousin Andromeda, Uncle Alphard, and a few others); and one exceedingly short note from Bellatrix, which read: _Happy Birthday! –Bella_.

Feeling cheerful despite the missive from Bellatrix, Sirius dressed, showered, and joined his friends to head down to Saturday morning breakfast.

In the Gryffindor common room, several people (mostly girls) waved to him and called out, "Happy Birthday!"

"Did you get my present, Sirius?" Mina Kohler, a pretty, gregarious seventh year with curly dark hair, horn-rimmed glasses, and a terribly enticing body asked him.

He swept his hair out of his eyes and gave her a slow smile. "I believe I did." Mina was one of the girls who had given him chocolates.

"Did you try one yet, Sirius?" Mina asked, coming closer to him and batting her long eyelashes seductively.

Sirius resisted the urge to stare at her chest, the contours of which were visible even through her black robes. Instead, he met her gaze. "Not yet," he said casually. "Haven't even eaten breakfast, you know…"

She gave him an adorable – if somewhat disappointed – smile, and simpered, "Well, I still need to give you a birthday kiss…"

Sirius grinned slightly despite himself. "If you must," he agreed suavely.

Mina leaned toward him, grabbed the lapels of his robes, and proceeded to press her lips against his passionately. Sirius was quite frankly enjoying it, but then James gave a small cough and said, "You know, we _really_ must get to breakfast, Padfoot…"

Mina pulled back; Sirius winked at her; and she strolled away, a slight spring in her step.

"Good grief, Padfoot…" Remus muttered with an exaggerated roll of his eyes as they made their way out of the portrait hole.

Sirius grinned sheepishly. "What?"

"Is the entire trip down to the Great Hall going to be like this?" asked Peter idly, watching as two more girls, both from Hufflepuff, ran up to them with a chorus of,

"Happy Birthday, Sirius!" They kissed him – one on each cheek – before hurrying on their way, both of them giggling hysterically.

Sirius smiled again. At this rate he would be getting even more birthday kisses than he had last year, when James had tallied a rough total of thirty-seven.

As they continued down the corridors and staircases toward the Great Hall, Sirius received seven more kisses, two from girls he had dated, one from a girl he had had a one-night fling with, and the remaining four from girls he could remembered either hitting on or having been hit on by at some point over the last year.

"You know, I hate my life," James observed pleasantly, as the seventh girl, a highly attractive Ravenclaw fifth year by the name of Brynn Merwyn, (who happened to be the younger cousin of that same Dilys Merwyn with whom Sirius had shared his first kiss,) gave Sirius a pleasant peck on the lips before skipping away down the corridor, her loose red curls flying.

"And that after you dumped her and everything!" Peter remarked incredulously, turning to watch Brynn Merwyn round the corner, her long hair still swishing fancifully behind her.

Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, well, we broke up on good terms," he explained.

James laughed dryly. "You mean, it was mutual?"

Sirius shook his head. "No… but I hadn't actually cheated on her or anything; I'd only come close."

James laughed again. "She's one lucky girl."

"Those Merwyns…" Remus mused airily. Brynn had dated him for a short while after her relationship with Sirius had ended, but over the Christmas holidays she had evidently found herself a new boyfriend down in Wales, for she had broken up with Remus upon the start of January term. The Merwyns – Brynn's younger brother, Gareth, a first year; her cousin, (who was also a cousin of Dilys Merwyn,) Gwendolyn, a third year; and Brynn herself were the only ones currently at Hogwarts – were known for their standard good looks, outgoing personalities, and the manner in which they could almost always be found in an intimate relationship with someone of the opposite sex. Merwyns were just mature that way.

Now in the Great Hall, Sirius sat down between James and Remus and looked around somewhat expectantly. As suspected, nearly all of the fourth-year-and-above girls at their section of the table had turned toward him. Most were smiling pleasantly, or else giggling despite themselves.

Sirius felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find Lily Evans and her friend Savannah Baron standing behind him. "Happy birthday, Sirius!" Savannah, a tall girl with brown eyes and long blond hair who played Chaser on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, exclaimed eagerly. She then gave him a flirtatious smile while Lily rolled her eyes.

"Why, thank you!" Sirius replied briskly, smiling back at her before turning to glance at Lily. "And you, Evans? Care to wish me a happy birthday?"

Lily stifled another roll of her eyes. "Happy birthday, Black," she replied briskly.

"Why, thank you!"

Lily smiled despite herself.

"Ah! Good morning, Evans!" James said pleasantly, turning to face her.

This time, Lily could not conceal her eye rolling. "Good morning, Potter," she said tiredly.

"So… how are you, Evans?" James asked, still the epitome of cheeriness.

Lily shrugged nonchalantly. "Decent. And you?"

"Never better!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and turned back to Savannah, who had been watching him. "So… going to give me a birthday kiss, Annie?" he asked suavely.

Savannah blushed slightly, but could not suppress a grin. "Oh, alright, Sirius… if you insist."

"I do," Sirius said at once, winking at her.

Still blushing and now attempting to contain her broad grin, Savannah Baron leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.

Sirius winked at her again and then turned toward Lily, who had just turned James down for a date yet again. "And you, Evans? Fancy a birthday kiss?"

James let out a snort of indignation mingled with amusement.

Lily glanced at Sirius thoughtfully. Her expression became disdainful as her eyes shifted to James. Then she turned back to Sirius, thoughtful once more. "Sure," she said evenly, leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek.

James gaped at her in utmost shock. "Why don't you ever kiss me on _my_ birthday, Evans?" he demanded.

Lily rolled her eyes at him, beckoned for Savannah, who was trying to catch Sirius's eye again, to follow her, and set off down the table.

"_What_ the _hell_?" James groaned, turning to glare at Sirius in exaggerated reproach. "What the hell did she do that for?"

Sirius shrugged, highly amused. "Well, I would say she was just trying to spite you, mate," he said easily.

Peter and Remus both looked on the brink of laughter, but one look from James caused them to cough into their hands pointedly. Sirius patted James on the back. "Hey, it doesn't mean anything, Prongs," he assured him pleasantly. "Don't fret, now…"

James swiveled in his seat to watch Lily and Savannah, who were taking seats far down the Gryffindor table.

"And that Annie… she could have at least said 'Good Morning' to me!"

James had dated Savannah Baron for almost two months at the start of school, but she had eventually grown sick of James's persistent infatuation with Lily Evans, who happened to be one of her best friends, and so had dumped him for good. Now the two rarely spoke; it was too awkward.

Sirius exhaled patiently. "Don't worry about it, mate," he repeated. "Just because Annie's a bit touchy doesn't mean you need to beat yourself up over it."

He was distracted by Inessa Barrington, who came up and kissed him on the cheek without so much as a forward greeting.

"Why, hello, dear!" Sirius remarked, turning to look at her.

Inessa smiled prettily and blushed. "Happy birthday, Sirius," she murmured.

Sirius swept his hair out of his eyes and grinned at her; she blushed even harder. Sirius smiled inwardly: he had always enjoyed flirting with Inessa Barrington, because she was terribly prudent and so got ridiculously embarrassed whenever boys attempted to engage her in anything more than casual conversation. In addition, Inessa was in a perpetual state of embarrassment around Sirius to begin with because they had hooked up the lone time she had gotten drunk, and though her memory of the night was somewhat hazy, it still caused her to feel deliciously bad.

Sirius leaned back and looked into Inessa's eyes sultrily. She had lovely eyes, both a deep, clear green, and her hair was blonde, curling into large ringlets at her shoulders. She never wore makeup – not that she needed it – and she looked like the very picture of innocence and chastity. Inessa blushed even more deeply and averted her gaze from his. She then let out a slight giggle and hurried back toward the Hufflepuff table.

Sirius almost laughed. That Inessa Barrington… true, she couldn't kiss for shit – she never had any practice, he figured – but there was something very entertaining about hooking up with the most well-mannered girl in school.

He would have to discuss this with Claire; she would most certainly have an opinion on the matter.

Meanwhile, Tara Nevan and Evetta Niall arrive at the table. "Happy birthday, Sirius!" Evetta said shyly.

"Why, thank you, Niall!" Sirius replied at once.

"Call me Evie," she said, smiling at him.

Sirius winked. "Of course, Evie."

"Happy birthday, Sirius!" Tara said, much less shyly. "Did you get our present?"

He nodded. "Yes I did… haven't eaten any of it yet, though; I figured I'd eat breakfast first."

Tara smiled. "Logical thinking. Well..." she trailed off. Sirius smiled at her pleasantly for a moment and then turned back to James, who seemed to have gotten over his laments in the amusement of watching Sirius talk to Inessa Barrington.

"Want some toast, Prongs?" Sirius offered, reaching for the stack.

James nodded. "Please."

Tara Nevan was still smiling hesitantly. Then she seemed to give it up and turned back down the table in search of a place to sit.

"She wanted to kiss you, too," Remus remarked casually.

Sirius shrugged. "She could have; I wouldn't have stopped her."

James rolled his eyes. "Why are you so indifferent toward her, Padfoot? It drives her mad, you know."

Sirius shrugged again. "Whatever. She needs to hang out with boys her own age, anyway."

James snorted slightly. "Of course… well, she shouldn't watch you too closely, then; you set a pretty poor example."

Sirius smiled indulgently. "Why do you care so much, Prongs? So what if I don't fancy Tara Nevan?"

James smiled, too. "Well… it's just that she's the closest thing I ever had to a little sister, and I feel very protective of her, so–"

Peter and Remus laughed. "Then why on earth would you be _encouraging_ Sirius to interact with her?" Peter demanded.

Sirius laughed, too. "Yes, good question, Prongs."

James shrugged. "I'm not _that_ protective; I just don't want her going mad over your attitude toward her."

Sirius smiled. "How sweet. You know, Prongs, this is quite a different tone from the one you used to take back when Tara was obsessed with you, say… oh… this time _last _year."

James grinned. "I know… curious, isn't it?"

Sirius barked out a laugh and took a large bite of egg-on-toast.

-

By the time five o'clock rolled around, Sirius felt that he had had a very satisfactory birthday. He had been kissed by approximately fifty girls, and at least ten of the kisses would have erupted into full-out snogging had James, Remus, and Peter not forced him to stop.

"Come on, Padfoot; you have detention in five minutes," Peter chirped loudly as girl number fifty, a sleek seventh year named Gina Davies who was captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and had caused Sirius (she called him her "Favorite Beater") to dump many of her friends (though, curiously, he had never actually dated Gina herself, despite all the times they had slept with one another) pushed him against the wall and started kissing him passionately.

Sirius held Gina away after a few more moments and rolled his eyes exaggeratedly toward Peter, saying, "Yeah, I have to go to that."

Gina swept her elegantly-cropped dark hair back over her head and smiled at him, looking a bit embarrassed, though her cinnamon-colored skin made it hard to discern whether or not she was blushing.

Sirius smiled at her easily before turning and making his way out of the common room, James, Remus, and Peter shaking their heads in amusement at his retreating back. Indeed, Sirius was looking forward to seeing Claire, not only because he hadn't seen her all day but because he was hoping for an extra-long birthday kiss from her, too.

When he arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, nearly on time but for having been stopped thrice by girls looking to give him birthday kisses, including Sinead from Hufflepuff, the girl with whom he had had a one-night stand weeks before, Sirius was feeling very elated. He wondered if Claire knew it was his birthday yet.

Professor Lamont surveyed Sirius dully, mumbled a crisp, "Good evening, Mr. Black," and then watched the clock for the next ten minutes until Claire stumbled in.

"Good evening, Professor; Sirius," she said cheerfully, striding across the classroom toward them.

"Miss Delacour, you have been tardy to detention far too often," Lamont observed.

"Oh, I know, Professor, and I'm really sorry," Claire said at once, "but it's just that I've had a lot of work lately, what with N.E.W.T. studies and making sure I'm keeping up with your Defense Against the Dark Arts works to the best of my abilities…"

His back to Lamont, Sirius raised an eyebrow skeptically at Claire, who ignored him.

"I really do apologize, Professor," Claire concluded, giving Lamont a highly sincere look.

Sirius turned around to look at the Professor, who was frowning slightly as if not sure how to respond to Claire's words. She opened her mouth several times, but no sound came out, until finally she muttered, "Very well, Miss Delacour… but mind you two work very diligently for the next two hours…"

Claire nodded at once. "Of course, Professor."

"And Mr. Black?" Lamont demanded, turning to Sirius.

"Certainly, Professor," Sirius assured her at once.

Without another word, Lamont turned and left the room, locking the door behind her as always.

As soon as she was gone, Claire turned to Sirius. "I hear it's your birthday, Black," she remarked.

"Stick with 'Sirius,'" he replied, "and yes, it is. And where'd you hear it?"

Claire smiled. "From most of the older girls in Ravenclaw. They couldn't stop talking about how they'd gone up and given you birthday kisses…" Now she grinned. "Silly girls… what on _earth _were they thinking?"

Sirius grinned, too. "Beats me. Hey, Claire, guess what? We're the same age now!"

Claire nodded. "We are… but only for another month; I'll be eighteen on May 27."

Sirius continued to grin. "Well, Claire, I think a birthday kiss is in order."

Claire laughed. She stood up, strode over, and kissed him fully on the lips. Sirius slid his hands through the slit in the front of her robes and grabbed her waist. Her shirt was pulled up slightly, as she had put her hands on his shoulders and her arms were raised, and so Sirius's hands were on bare skin. Claire's sides felt soft and dry.

He ran his hands around to her back and slid them upward, pushing her shirt with them.

Claire stopped kissed him and put her hands on his forearms, forcing them back down gently. "Sirius, _what_ are you doing?" she groaned.

Sirius grinned at her despite himself. "Déjà vu," he remarked, "and I should have thought that'd be quite obvious." He took her hands in his and lifted them out of the way.

"Sirius…" Claire began.

"Claire…" Sirius replied.

Claire exhaled slowly and seemed to be trying to compose herself. "Look, Sirius–" she tried again, but Sirius interrupted her.

"Hey, Claire, care to take off your robes? I mean, it's not like Lamont's going to come back anytime soon and I'm sure that whatever you're wearing under it is a lot prettier than the way it looks right now."

Claire groaned slightly. "Sirius, I really don't think–"

"I'll do it, too: look," Sirius put in smoothly, undoing the clasp on his black robe and sliding it off. Beneath it, he wore a pair of jeans, a belt, and a plain black shirt.

Claire looked him up and down, and couldn't help but smile. "You know, you almost look better in robes."

Sirius frowned, not at all bothered. "Odd. Well, anyway, it's your turn, Claire: take 'em off."

Claire closed her eyes for a moment in concentration. When she opened them, she looked at Sirius beseechingly. "Sirius, _why_ do I need to–"

"As a birthday present for me," Sirius put in at once. "Now come on; it'll be fun to sit around and not do that categorization in muggle clothes rather than normal ones."

Claire gave him a skeptical look, but she knew already that there was no way to win: he would always get what he wanted in the end.

"Fine," she grumbled, undoing the clasp on her own black robes and tossing them onto the desk behind her.

Sirius made a great show of doing a double-take. Claire, like most girls, _did_ look much better in muggle clothes. She was wearing a navy skirt made of some thin fabric that fell to just above the knee, a button-up white polo with a collar (on which the top two buttons had not been buttoned), and a pretty silver necklace. Her hair was down today, and it framed her face appealingly.

"Damn, Claire," Sirius whistled. "You should break the dress code more often!"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the observation."

Sirius came forward and pinned her against the desk. "Hey, Claire," he murmured. "Inessa Barrington kissed me today." He kissed her gently. "What are your thoughts?" He kissed her again.

Claire grinned slightly despite herself. "Inessa Barrington?" she repeated. Sirius kissed her a third time, and Claire leaned away from him. "Do you want to hear my thoughts or not?" she demanded.

Sirius shrugged and pulled forward to kiss her a fourth time. Claire pushed him away with one hand and brushed his hair out of his eyes with the other. "I think it's adorable," she whispered. "Happy?"

Sirius nodded. "Very much so." He caught her hand and kissed it. Then he kissed her on the lips passionately as he slid his other hand up along her thigh, under her dark skirt.

Claire felt her breath catch. She grabbed his hand with hers and held it there, before it could slide any higher. But Sirius was unperturbed; he kept kissing her, and Claire didn't pull away. Despite herself, she felt her grip on his hand loosen. She shuddered in pleasure mingled with horror as she felt his finger trail further up her inner thigh. Fuck, she was about to get fingered by Sirius Black, and just the night before Hector Zabini had told her (both verbally and physically) how much he loved her.

She felt his fingers reach her panties and didn't know how to react. With a jolt of self-loathing, Claire realized that she _wanted_ Sirius to keep going. But she couldn't do that, she thought desperately; first base was one thing, but _third_?

Claire forced herself to pull back from him. "Sirius, don't," she said sharply.

He looked at her calmly, not in the least put out. "If you say so, Claire," he replied lightly. He didn't mean it, though; Claire knew he was still confident in his ability to get what he wanted in the end.

"I have a boyfriend," Claire murmured. "I have a boyfriend, Sirius… I can't… I mean, kissing is one thing, but…"

Sirius smiled at her despite himself. "Claire, my dear," he replied, "you're still a teenager. Live a little." He leaned in to kiss her again, but Claire wouldn't let him.

"It's not that simple, Sirius!" she cried, grabbing his hand to keep it from going back up her skirt.

Sirius smiled at her indulgently. "Indeed? Do enlighten me."

Claire exhaled slowly and sat down on the desk behind her. "It's just… it's just…" but Claire, for once in her life, could not think of anything to say.

In truth, it was just that she couldn't resist Sirius Black. It was a curse – an enjoyable one, to be sure – that she had to live with. When it came to Sirius Black, Claire Delacour was just like all the other girls.

"Claire," Sirius murmured, putting his hands on her waist once more and looking into her eyes, "just… _go_ with it."

Claire stared back at him for a moment, her heart going a mile a minute, trying to catch her breath. "We need to make the quills start categorizing," she announced at last, fighting to keep her voice steady and she pushed him out of the way and strode to the stack of parchment at the front of the classroom.

Glancing behind her, she saw Sirius, leaning against the desk now, grinning at her. Claire fought the urge to run back over and kiss him; she turned back to the stack of parchment and pulled out her wand.

She felt his hands on her waist a moment later, and then Sirius pulled her back into him and wrapped his arms around her. "Claire," he whispered, "you worry too much."

Then he spun her around, pushed her against the teacher's desk behind them, and started kissing her again.

* * *

Yay! Reviews! 

lavizsla – thanks; I will!

Sweet 16 Movie Buff – yes, yes… _if_ he finds out!

Mog-everything – I'm glad you liked it!

Potpoury– likewise.

Lainia26 – I'm glad you think it's cool!

caramel – I will!

lillyskywalker3 – ooh, I'm so glad! Grazie infinite!

**Here's a translation of all the French:**

_Sacrebleu - _My god

_la petite putain - _the little whore

_son petit ami_ _pour la énième fois -_her boyfriend for the upteemth time

_parle français- _speak French

_je ne suis pas une putain, et - _I am not a whore, and

(I know it seems sort of weird out of context, but if you go back up and substitute this stuff in, it makes sense.)

FYI, at this point, all of the characters with whom I'm planning Sirius to have some sort of romantic intrigue (after all, Claire graduates in June) have been introduced. Make predictions (or suggestions, though I've worked out most of it already) if you want!

And on that note, please review!


	4. In Which Things Heat Up

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **Yeah, it's M now. I figured I might as well just do it already, before this story gets banned or something, and then I got a tad carried away with it… so, this chapter has more "M" stuff (i.e., sex) than I'd initially intended, but whatever.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

**A/N: **Yeah, I know, loooooong delay in getting this chapter written. My lame excuse: I was sort of busy, plus I have a life and thus only write fanfiction when I'm bored or else extremely inspired. Now, take into account the fact that I currently have school all the time, and you can probably expect chapter five in, at the soonest, a month. Sorry… :-

But enough with the melancholies; hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Chapter Four

_In Which Things Heat Up_

(...hence the new rating)

Sirius wouldn't stop, and Claire, try as her conscience feebly might, did not want him to. Before she knew what to do he had one hand up her skirt and the other under her shirt; she grabbed his hips and pulled him closer to her, her mind a blur. "_Meh_," she mused dully, "_why the bloody hell not?_"

Claire was sitting on the desk now, her skirt pushed up around her waist, gripping him with her bare legs as she pulled off his shirt. She was completely caught up in the moment now, and so was he; it was almost theatrical, almost as if they were actors before a camera following perfect stage directions, the way Sirius stopped kissing her to unbutton her shirt, their foreheads brushing as he leaned toward her, and then stopped with the buttons midway down to bring his hands up to hold her face, tilting his head to the side and kissing her without stopping, while she fumbled with the zipper on his jeans and moaned slightly.

Everything was perfect.

-

Some time later, Sirius and Claire sat on the floor, their clothes back on, though Claire's shirt was still mostly unbuttoned. Claire's head lay in Sirius's lap; he was leaning against the desk and smiling down at her with one hand inside her shirt, gently tracing a finger up and down her stomach.

"That was probably the best sex I've ever had," Claire remarked, smiling.

Sirius grinned. "Likewise." He stopped for a moment to ponder if this was actually true. Claire figured out what he was thinking about and laughed.

"Was it really?" she demanded, grinning, "Or are you just being polite?"

He smiled slowly. "I'm never polite, Claire; you must know that by now."

She reached up a hand to touch his jaw, letting it slide down his cheek before dropping, whereupon she laid it on top of the hand he had on her stomach. She pressed down firmly, holding his hand there against her skin.

"Why do I like you so much?" Claire demanded.

Sirius shrugged. "And why do I like _you _so much?" He paused for a moment, and then said, nodding knowingly, "It's probably because we're both so hot."

Claire grinned. "And modest. Don't forget that."

Sirius smiled. "You know, Claire, we could… we could be happy."

Claire frowned complacently. "Why, I should think we're both quite happy right now," she observed. Then, noticing that his hand was no longer making its soothing path up and down her front, she said, "Keep doing that thing with your hand; it feels good."

Sirius once again began to trace his fingers over the smooth skin of her stomach, frowning complacently as well.

"I know that," he said at last. "It's just… Claire, we should be together. We really should... I mean, _think_ about it: I make you laugh, you make me laugh; you look good, I look good; we both kiss well; we have _awesome_ sex…"

Claire laughed easily. "Well, yes… but we don't _love_ each other, Sirius. There's a difference between being perfectly compatible and being in love."

Sirius shrugged, and looked down at her, combing her bangs out of her eyes with his right hand and tracing his fingers down the side of her face until they reached her lips, where she kissed them. "I could love you, Claire," he admitted. "I really could… if you would let me, that is."

Claire smiled. "That's very flattering, if a bit cliché… but Sirius… it doesn't exactly work like that."

Sirius smiled, too. "I know… but I'm just thinking..." He glanced at his left hand, which was still running up and down her stomach, and thought for a few moments. Then he asked, "Claire, why do you like Zabini so much?"

Claire did not move, and he did not stop moving his hand, but she did give a slight groan. "Sirius, _please_ don't bring Hector into this."

Sirius smiled wryly, still watching his hand. "I'm not… it's just… why do you love him? Why do you love him and not me, for example? What's he do differently?"

Claire sighed, and looked up at him until he stopped studying his hand and met her gaze. "I love Hector because… because I just do."

Sirius raised his eyebrows and was about to say something when Claire noticed and continued hastily, "Because I know he'll always be there for me. Because I know I can trust him, because I know that he understands me better than I understand myself, because he's funny and smart and makes me laugh. Because he's kind, because he's handsome… because he loves _me_…"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Okay, okay, I get it already…" But he looked somewhat disappointed, and Claire wanted to know why.

"Sirius… what's up?" she demanded calmly, finally lifting herself from his lap to lean against him, his left arm still wrapped around her and his left hand pressed flat against her lower stomach.

He turned to look at her, his mouth opened slightly. "It's just… _I _could give you all that, Claire… more or less, that is."

She smiled at him sadly. "Sirius, I like you, don't get me wrong, but you don't really understand love."

Sirius rolled his eyes, their faces inches apart. "Why does everybody always say that?" he demanded. "I mean… well, maybe it's true, but I'm never going to learn if I don't try, am I?"

Claire suddenly grinned. "Sirius, when on earth did you become so serious?"

Remembering something James had said earlier, Sirius replied quickly, "Well, I've _always_ been–"

Claire didn't even let him finish; she pressed her lips against his and didn't stop kissing him until they both were out of breath. "Save it," she whispered, grinning again despite herself.

He grinned, too. "Claire, I want you to go out with me," he said abruptly. "I really do. Why can't you take a break from Zabini for a change? Play the field a bit… I mean, term ends in two months and then the two of you have the rest of your lives to spend together."

Claire smiled tiredly. "Sirius, you know I'm not going to do that."

He looked surprisingly dejected, and Claire kissed him gently. Then she said, "Look, I'd _love_ to go out with you under any other circumstances – really, I would! – but it's just… well, impossible. Good grief, Sirius; I have a boyfriend!"

Sirius smiled slightly. "I know it… lucky bloke he is, too."

Claire shook her head slightly and kissed him again.

-

That evening at supper, after receiving eight more kisses from girls who had missed him earlier, and one from a girl who had gotten him that morning but wanted another go at it, Sirius sat at the Gryffindor table, poking at his mashed potatoes distractedly. _Why the bloody hell does Claire need to have a boyfriend?_ he lamented. _It would make everything _so_ much simpler if the she and Zabini would just get _sick _of one another already._

"Whatcha pondering, Padfoot?" asked Peter, reaching across Sirius's plate for a basket of rolls.

Sirius shrugged. "Nothing… just… nothing."

"Care to share with us?" Remus asked pleasantly, leaning in on Sirius's other side.

Sirius shrugged again. "Just… Claire." He frowned and sat back, glancing at his friends on either side of him. "It's just… why the bloody hell is she still going out with Zabini after all these years? Why can't they just _break up _already?"

Remus smiled slightly. "Speaking of which, how was detention today?"

Sirius grinned. "Oh, fabulous… but I'll tell you about that later."

James leaned over from Peter's left. "Maybe you shouldn't… well, _bother_ with Claire, mate," he suggested. "I mean… if you don't get too involved with her, it won't matter what her relationship with Zabini's like, will it?"

Sirius smiled again, ruefully this time. "What if it's already too late?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "_What did you do_?" he demanded.

Sirius grinned again. "I already said I'd tell you about it later."

Peter chuckled. "I can hardly wait."

-

"Did you shag her?" James asked bluntly up in their dormitory later that evening.

Sirius smiled. "I don't kiss and tell."

"Oh, bullshit," said James, rolling his eyes. "Did you or didn't you?"

Sirius shrugged, still smiling. "Maybe."

"You _what_?" Remus demanded incredulously, as James and Peter laughed.

"Hey, I said _maybe_," Sirius replied.

Remus rolled his eyes. "That's as good as any affirmation. Sirius… I can't _believe_… I mean…" He trailed off for a moment before recovering and asking, "Well, what's your plan now, at any rate?"

Sirius smiled. "To make her go out with me," he replied briskly. "We had a long chat about how perfectly compatible we are, but she kept saying that she has to stick with Zabini… I figure all I need to do is convince her otherwise."

Remus groaned as James and Peter laughed again. "_Sirius_… you can't do that!"

Sirius frowned. "And why not?"

Remus seemed to be trying to articulate his thoughts. He gestured his hands around a few times before finally saying, "Because it's _wrong_. Look, school ends in two months and then you're not going to see Claire for ages!"

Sirius smiled smugly. "All the more reason to get with her _now_."

Remus sighed. "But it's just… she loves Zabini, Sirius! It's _so_ obvious! You can't break them up; it's morally unjust to both of them!"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, what about me and _my_ feelings?" Then he grinned. "Really… it's like I've finally figured out that Claire's bloody incredible… I mean, we could have _so_ much fun–"

"Go out with Tara," James suggested quickly. "It'll make her happy, and take your mind off Claire–"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "But I don't bloody _like_ Tara! Good lord… I like Claire, don't you guys get it?"

Remus frowned determinedly. "Yes, but you can't _have_ Claire… well, no more than you already have, anyway." He grinned lopsidedly despite himself. "Look, Padfoot… Zabini's going to find out eventually. You do realize that, don't you?"

Sirius shrugged. "He might not."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Well, he probably will. And how is that fair to Claire, to have her boyfriend furious at her over something that was probably _your_ fault to begin with?"

Sirius smiled. "Well, she claims it was her fault too, but…" He suddenly groaned. "It's just… God, I like Claire! And I have nothing against hooking up with her in deserted classrooms; it's just that I wish I could be around her more without bloody Zabini figuring everything out and ruining the game!"

James smiled gently. "Padfoot, just keep things the way they are. If you force the situation it'll only get fucked up."

Remus grinned. "Wow, that was almost as insightful as what I said. Not as eloquent as it could have been, mind you, but still… I'm impressed, Prongs!"

James grinned devilishly. "I try."

Sirius rolled his eyes and vowed to ignore both of them.

-

It was Quidditch on Sunday, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. The weather was perfect – not too hot, but not cold, either – and the sky overhead was blue laced with thin white clouds. Sirius careened around the pitch on his Cleansweep, hitting Bludgers sharply toward the Slytherin Chasers.

The Gryffindor Chasers - James, Savannah Baron, and Gina Davies – were trying a new offensive technique that Gina had taught them during their last couple of practices. It involved one Chaser flying far ahead – at the moment, Savannah – and two dropping back, one above the game and one maneuvering through it until the lower one couldn't keep going and had to pass the Quaffle up, at which point the two switched positions. So far, it had worked remarkably well; Gryffindor was up thirty-to-zero, and the game had barely been on for five minutes.

Sirius gave himself a mental note to thank Gina for her clever game plan later as he swooped toward her and smacked away a Bludger. Gina flashed him a smile, her short dark hair flicking back and forth in the little ponytail she always pinned it into during games.

James, who had already caught the lob Gina had sent him, launched the Quaffle ahead of one of the Slytherin Chasers, Audrey Granada. Savannah went into a brief dive and retrieved it (all the awkwardness she and James experienced around one another instantly evaporated during matches); she spun on a dime, before the opposing team could regroup and catch up to her, and hurled the Quaffle toward the goal posts in one fluid motion.

Sirius grinned somewhat vindictively as Hector Zabini, the Slytherin Keeper, missed the ball by the tips of his fingers. It rocketed through the left goal hoop and the stadium filled with the cheers and roars of the Gryffindor supporters. Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius caught sight of his brother, Regulus, who had been the Slytherin Seeker for two years straight now, saying something that looked like a curse under his breath as he zoomed upward past Granada; Sirius grinned again.

"And Baron scores!" the announcer, a very enthusiastic Gwendolyn Merwyn, was shouting. "Nice assist there by Potter… and it seems as if Davies has really fine-tuned the Gryffindor offensive this match! Zabini's going to need to pay more attention if he wants to keep the score down now!"

"Damn straight!" Gina roared joyfully to Sirius as they passed one another in midair.

He laughed, turning toward a Bludger once again as the other Beater, a very sturdy third-year named Richard Sloan, shouted, "Sirius! Get Granada!"

Sirius sent the Bludger toward Audrey Granada as she raced down the pitch, the Quaffle clutched beneath one arm. She saw the Bludger coming and rolled over in midair, dropping the Quaffle into Gina's waiting grasp. Sirius took off after Gina and grinned at Granada as he passed; she narrowed her eyes at him and tossed her head in annoyance, her short black hair whipping across her face where it had come loose from the short French braid she had plaited it in prior to the match.

The game went on rather smoothly; Gryffindor was up seventy-to-twenty when its Seeker, a fifth year named Ambrose Adams who had made the team for the first time the past autumn, went into a shallow dive and emerged with the Snitch firmly in his grasp. Regulus was far above him, still surveying the pitch, and looked furious when he realized what had happened; Sirius grinned even more broadly as the cheers began.

"And Adams has the Snitch!" Gwendolyn Merwyn was shouting over the screams of the crowd. "And that'll make it Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw for the Championship week after next!" Sirius grinned happily as James, who was laughing and shouting something congratulatory to Ambrose, flew by. Savannah flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder and gave him a thumbs up, which he returned, and the Gryffindor Keeper, Amos Diggory, a seventh year, skimmed past him and held out his hand for a high five.

The Gryffindor team landed on the pitch amidst the screaming of fans; Gina shook hands with the Slytherin captain, not bothering to contain her broad smile. Sirius couldn't help but smirk as he noticed Zabini glowering in the background.

As Gina led the team back across the pitch to change, Remus and Peter caught up with them. "Fabulous game, mates," said Remus pleasantly.

Peter smiled earnestly. "I especially enjoyed when you guys won."

Sirius and James laughed. "Yeah, that part's always nice," Sirius observed.

James suddenly caught sight of Lily Evans talking to Savannah, and strode off with a brief, "Um… excuse me..."

Remus and Sirius rolled their eyes while Peter laughed again. "Well… we'll see you up in the common room, then, Padfoot?" Remus confirmed, as Savannah, who was rolling her eyes in extreme aggravation as she stalked away from James and Lily (Lily could be seen giving Savannah a vindictive look for abandoning her with James) came up behind Sirius and slung her arm around his waist.

"Hey there," she said pleasantly, smiling up at him. "Lovely match, eh?"

Sirius put his arm around her shoulders instinctively and gave her a lopsided grin. "Oh, definitely… actually, we were just discussing how much fun games are when you win."

Savannah laughed. Then she glanced back toward Lily and James (Lily looked in the middle of trying to escape, and was still shooting Savannah death glares over James's shoulder) and Sirius peered behind him, too. He and Savannah looked at each other and rolled their eyes; she laughed again.

"Let's go get changed, yeah? I hear there's a party being planned up in the common room." She smiled at him more appealingly and tossed her head so that her bangs flipped to the side and her long blond hair rearranged itself over her narrow shoulders.

Sirius gave her a half smile and allowed her to lead him back through the throng toward the changing room. "Good game you played there, Annie," he observed.

She grinned, looking down at the trodden grass. "You too… I've got to say, it'll be a pity when Gina leaves. I reckon James'll probably be Captain next, though, what do you think?"

Sirius did not answer; he had suddenly noticed Claire, her back to him, standing and talking to some of her Ravenclaw friends. She was probably waiting for the crowd to thin and Zabini to finish up in the changing room, Sirius figured, but he couldn't have cared less.

"Hey, Claire!" he called over the heads of the group of people between them.

She spun around, saw him, and grinned. "Why, hello!" she called back pleasantly, making her way through the crowd toward him. "Great game you played back there." She smiled at Savannah, who was watching Sirius, her arm still around his waist. "You, too, Savannah," Claire added. "A lot of great shots back there…"

Savannah turned to look at her now, and gave her a warm smile. "Thank you."

Claire giggled. "Don't mention I'm congratulating you two to Hector, though; he might be a tad miffed…"

Savannah smiled, but Sirius rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, making sure that Claire could see. She wrinkled her nose at him.

"Oh, shut it, Black," she said wearily.

He grinned at her and dropped his arm from Savannah's shoulders; she looked a bit put out but allowed him to step away from her without comment. "Whatever happened to 'Sirius?'" he asked Claire, grinning more broadly.

She rolled her eyes and didn't answer.

"Hey, congratulatory kiss, Claire: what'd you say?"

Savannah was frowning, but luckily Gina swooped by at that very moment. "My Favorite Beater!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Sirius's middle and giving him a smack on the cheek. "…And Savannah! My Favorite Chaser, as of this moment, anyway!" She came over and gave Savannah a kiss on the cheek, too.

Savannah laughed easily and pulled a stray bobby pin out of Gina's sleek hair; Gina promptly shook her head vigorously so that more pins came loose. "Let's go change, shall we?" she proposed brightly, grabbing Savannah's arm and blowing Sirius another kiss as the two girls headed off toward the changing rooms.

Claire was grinning. "Energetic girl, that Gina," she observed.

Sirius barked out a laugh and grinned, too. "You have no idea."

Claire rolled her eyes and grinned again, getting his implication. "I must say, Sirius, you sure know how to romance a girl," she murmured sarcastically.

Sirius grinned lopsidedly at her. "Why, thank you."

Claire laughed, and smiled at him against despite herself.

"Detention later this afternoon," Sirius said brightly.

Claire nodded. "We can have a nice long chat," she said, smiling more broadly.

Sirius nodded, too. "About all kinds of things." He took a step closer to her. "Now, what about that congratulatory kiss?"

But Claire leaned to the side for a moment, scanning the crowd, and said, "No… Hector's out of the changing room; I need to go and talk to him." She glanced back at Sirius. "See you at five," she said casually, trying to conceal her smile.

Sirius didn't bother hiding anything; he grinned at her. "I can hardly wait."

-

As it turned out, Sirius was late coming to detention – even later than Claire, for once. He had gotten distracted by the festivities going on in the Gryffindor common room, mainly those involving Savannah Baron coming onto him repeatedly and Gina Davies making out with Amos Diggory on a dare, and it wasn't until Remus laughed and said, "Hey, Padfoot, Prongs – it's ten past already; you're supposed to be in detention!" that he and James realized that they had to go.

"Ah damn; I've got to go and serve time," Sirius said gently to Savannah, who had been sitting in his lap and laughing at every joke he said. (Post-match euphoria always got to her; during the regular week she was normally too self-contained to start flirting openly, though she had fancied Sirius ever since breaking up with James back in the fall.)

Sirius strolled into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to find Claire sitting and Lamont standing in awkward silence, waiting for him to show up. "Where have you been, Mr. Black?" Lamont demanded.

Sirius shrugged casually. "Oh… well, I was up in my common room, actually; see, we won the Quidditch match today, so everybody's celebrating."

Lamont said nothing, but her nostrils flared slightly. "Ah… well, get to work, Mr. Black! And you, Miss Delacour–" she turned to look at Claire "–just because Black walks in late does not give you an excuse to stop working!"

Sirius saw that Claire was categorizing slowly by hand, stopping every few moments to stifle a yawn. She winked at Sirius when Lamont glanced at the clock, and he allowed one corned of his mouth to twitch into a smile.

"Well… I'll return," Lamont said dully, striding from the room and locking the door behind her.

As soon as she was gone, Sirius and Claire burst out laughing. Then, as they each extracted their wands to charm the quills into categorizing for them, Claire said, "So… enjoying the post-Quidditch euphoria, Sirius?"

He nodded cheerfully. "Very much so… and how about you? How's Zabini taking it?"

Claire smiled tolerantly. "Oh, he's fine… Audrey Granada was bloody miffed, though; you should have seen her!"

Sirius raised one eyebrow, vaguely curious. "Is she that poor of a sport?"

Claire shrugged. "Maybe. But it's not so much over losing; it's over not doing as well as they could have." She laughed, and then added, "She thinks the Slytherin Chasers are crap."

"Well… they _are_," Sirius observed.

Claire smiled. "Perhaps. But two good ones apparently graduated last year, so now Granada's annoyed that the new two aren't measuring up."

"Mmm," said Sirius, bored. "Well, I can't say I particularly care about what Audrey Granada thinks; let's move on, shall we?"

Claire grinned. "Yes, let's," she agreed, standing up and brushing off her jeans. (As this was Sunday, and just after a Quidditch game to boot, most of the school was currently not in uniform.)

Sirius grinned, too, and then came over and kissed her, holding her against the teacher's desk. "Claire… I still want you to go out with me," he groaned into her neck.

Claire laughed gently. "You know I won't, Sirius." Then she frowned and leaned back so that they were looking directly at one another. "Speaking of which… what's the deal here? Because I'm not about to break up with Hector, but I don't… I mean… are _you_ going to be going out with other people?"

Sirius shrugged idly, and kissed her again. Claire let him do that for a few moments before pulling away. "Seriously," she said. "I want to know how committed we are to this… thing."

Sirius smiled crookedly, and raised one eyebrow. "Well, if you must know, Claire, I'm not really attracted to any other girls at the moment. You've sort of left them all in the dust."

Claire grinned despite herself. "How nice. So, Sirius, what are you going to do when I graduate?"

He shrugged. "Pine away until I die, probably. Why?"

Claire laughed, and kissed his neck, trailing her tongue gently up to his jaw line. "Well, because I don't want you to be sad."

He grinned then. Gosh, Claire was fun! Sirius loved it when a girl with whom he was infatuated made cute, flirtatious comments. "I know one way you can make me feel better," he said, trying not to laugh at how cliché he sounded.

Claire, however, could not contain herself; she burst out laughing. "Do enlighten me, oh King of Cliché."

Sirius didn't answer; he kissed her full on and slid his hands down to her hips, holding her tightly. Claire put one hand at the back of his neck and the other on his shoulder; they stood there against the teacher's desk, kissing one another passionately, until eventually they sunk to the floor and had steamy sex while the quills categorized tirelessly.

-

Sirius was in a really, really good mood as he and Claire, now released from detention, made their way down the corridor, which, this being Sunday, was currently deserted. With a cheerful, "So!" Sirius slung his arm around her waist, sliding his hand into the back pocket of her jeans.

Claire laughed and pulled his hand off of her ass; he changed tactics and put it around her shoulders. Sighing exaggeratedly and grinning despite herself, Claire wrapped her arm around his waist. They strolled down the hall like so, laughing about this and that, until Sirius finally said, "Claire, isn't this fun?"

She giggled. "Well, of course it is. Way to state the bloody obvious."

Sirius grinned. "No, I mean _this_. Like, walking down the corridor like this. Talking like this. Claire, we were _meant_ to be with one another."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Sirius, just drop it already!"

He smiled defiantly. "No. I want you to be my girlfriend."

Claire groaned. "Well, you can't _have _me as your girlfriend. Good God, Sirius; get it through your head already."

Sirius laughed and turned to kiss her on the cheek. "Hey, want to skip dinner and go shag some more?" he asked.

Claire gave an audible sigh. "Yeah, I'd _love _to… but… look, can we just keep this confined to detentions? Because, Sirius–" and she turned to look at him "–I _don't_ want Hector, or _anybody_, finding out. And I _need_ you to appreciate that. Seriously."

Sirius grinned. "Claire, I would never cause you grief," he said lightly.

She laughed derisively. "Ha. Making me go mad with desire and compromise the few morals I have?" She grinned crookedly. "Sirius, if there's one thing you _have_ caused me it's–" But she stopped abruptly as Sirius kissed her passionately, forcing her (not that she minded) against the stone wall of the corridor.

Then they heard footsteps echoing from around the corner. Sirius pulled away at once, and Claire felt her heartbeat quicken. The next instant, James was striding smoothly into view, grumbling under his breath about bedpans and confiscated wands.

"Ah, good evening!" he remarked, smiling at Sirius and Claire. "I was just coming to meet you!"

Sirius grinned, relieved that it was James who had arrived and not, say, Hector Zabini. "Evening, Prongs," he replied. "How was detention?"

James shrugged. "Tragic… but, hey – how was _yours_?" He grinned slightly.

Claire frowned at him, blushing a bit despite herself, and Sirius recalled belatedly that nobody was supposed to know about his little fling with Claire. With James on the verge of winking cheekily, Sirius gave a furtive shake of his head.

James faltered. "Ah… are you still categorizing, or… um…"

Claire turned to glare at Sirius, looking very annoyed. "Sirius, don't tell me you bloody_ told _him–"

James smiled innocently, looking as if he were trying to conceal a broad grin. "Um… told me what, Delacour? I mean, _I_ don't remember him ever… I don't _think _he's told me any–"

Claire was not fooled; she narrowed her eyes at James. "Give it a rest, Potter," she interrupted briskly. Then she rounded on Sirius again. "What the hell do you think you're playing at, _imbécile?_"

Sirius bit his lip, trying not to smile; Claire had started ranting at him in French again.

"Claire, don't get so worked up over everything," Sirius interrupted. "It's not like James is going to tell–"

"_J'en ai rien à foutre!_" Claire snapped. "_Espèce d'idiot, je–_"

Sirius grinned. "Wait, wait… in English, please?"

Claire smiled despite herself, finally realizing that she had lapsed into French again. Then she narrowed her eyes and said, very slowly and clearly, "I don't give a fuck about whether or not James is going to tell. It's the _principle _of the thing, Sirius."

"Um… what if I have no idea what either of you is talking about?" James suggested halfheartedly.

Sirius and Claire both rolled their eyes. "We've already been there, pal," Claire replied.

"Yeah, don't bother, mate," Sirius added.

James shrugged, and stood back to watch them continue arguing.

"Sirius, I just can't believe that you would go and tell your… well, your best friend… after _everything_ I–"

Sirius smiled. "Claire, _good grief_," he interrupted. "Like you said, he's my best friend. I tell him _everything_, even stuff people tell me not to repeat. Seriously… it's almost like a curse."

Claire grinned slightly despite herself. "Yes, but did you _have_ to tell him something this… this _low-profile?_"

Sirius shrugged, and slid his arm around her shoulders again. "Well, if you must know, I told him I was mad over you one night, and the next night I just _had_ to tell him about our… our _actions_ in detention; he needed fulfillment, see? I mean, what if I'd just left him hanging? Like said, 'Oh, I'm mad over Claire…' and then never given any closure over where it went?"

Claire frowned at him, but her stern expression looked very forced; a smile was itching at the corners of her lips. "So did you tell the rest of your little quartet, too?" she demanded. "What… is our relationship the regular topic of discussion in your dormitory these days?"

"Well, Lily Evans factors in a lot, too," James offered helpfully.

Claire smiled now; she couldn't help it. "I see… well…" She turned to glare at James. "You had bloody well keep this a secret, Potter."

James drew an "x" over his chest with his index finger. "Cross my heart," he replied smoothly.

"And tell your little gang they had damn well keep it a secret, too," Claire ordered, rounding on Sirius again; he grinned at her.

"Of course, _dear_." He leaned in and kissed her.

James was grinning, too. "Great, well… can we go to supper, then? Only I don't think it's wise to carry on with this business in the corridor, considering you wanted to keep it on the down-low…"

"Certainly," said Claire primly, making a point of walking a few feet away from Sirius as they rounded the corner and entered a more populated hallway.

Sirius grinned, pleased with how this inevitable fiasco had turned out. Claire, however, looked a bit distracted, as if something were bothering her immensely.

-

It was in detention on Monday that Claire told Sirius what was bothering her. "Sirius, we need to talk," she said, as soon Lamont had left the room.

"Déjà vu," Sirius observed. "I swear, you said the exact same thing, like, three days ago."

Claire shrugged. "Probably… but, Sirius, we really need to talk."

Sirius smiled pleasantly. "I'm listening."

"It's just…" Claire came over to stand in front of him; she picked up one of his hands and examined it. Then she looked him in the face again. "I really wish your friends didn't know about us," she said briskly.

Sirius sighed slightly. "Yeah, well… it's too late now, isn't it?"

Claire narrowed her eyes in thought. "Yes, of course… but… I just wish they didn't know. I really do. Because… because I don't like the idea of people thinking I'd cheat on Hector, even if they're _right_…" She suddenly sighed. "Look, I was feeling so guilty last night, Sirius, you can't imagine… it's just… I don't know…" Much to Sirius's surprise, she looked on the verge of tears.

"Hey, Claire," he said gently, putting his arms around her and pulling her toward him, "you need to lighten up. I mean… do you even _know_ how many people at Hogwarts cheat on their significant others?"

Claire shrugged, her face pressed against his chest. "Oh, I know alright… but it's not so much the _physical _cheating that gets to me, Sirius. I mean, Lord knows I've done plenty of things that Hector would call cheating if he knew about them, but–"

"Wait, wait; like what?" Sirius interrupted, grinning a bit.

Claire smiled. "Well… nothing past kissing old friends a bit too exuberantly… oh, and I've played truth-or-dare in the nude a few times," she added as an afterthought, "but that was only because I was partially drunk."

Sirius burst out laughing. "You've played nude truth-or-dare?" he demanded. "Goodness… _I've_ never done that! I mean, strip-poker, _sure_, but–"

Claire grinned. "Oh, I've done strip-poker, too; don't get me wrong. And I've never played nude truth-or-dare with anybody _here_; it's just family friends in France! We go skinny-dipping and play truth-or-dare… like, when the adults are off drinking after dinner. It's sort of become a tradition by this point…"

Sirius laughed again. "And what sort of dares does nude truth-or-dare entail?" he demanded casually.

Claire laughed, too. "Oh… nothing_ too_ perverted… if you ever come down to France, you can come play it with us some time." She laughed again. "Ugh, wait, _no_, you _can't_."

Sirius grinned. "Claire, you are so ridiculously awesome. I don't think you quite get it." He grabbed her hands and kissed her gently on the lips.

Claire smiled and let him kiss her for a while; then she said, "But back to my earlier feelings of discontent…"

"Mm, yes, those…" Sirius recalled, sighing with resignation and leaning back against the desk to look at her.

"It's just… look, I _really_ like you, Sirius," Claire said desperately.

Sirius grinned. "And I really, _really_ like you! It's so convenient, isn't it?" He took a breath. "Claire, _we should go out_. I mean, how much more obvious could it get?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Look, Sirius, _stop_ trying to convince me to go out with you. I just _can't_; get it straight already!" She sighed suddenly. "See, _that's_ why I feel so guilty! Because this is the first time that I've ever _emotionally_ cheated on Hector, if you will. And I wish you'd stop suggesting that we get together officially, because you know very well that I'm not going to be able to…" She trailed off.

Sirius grinned. "…Not going to be able to keep saying 'no'?" he suggested.

Claire bit her lip. "Yes." She suddenly threw her arms around him and pressed her lips against his; Sirius took in his breath in surprise as he felt her tongue slide into his mouth. Then he snapped to his senses and kissed her back, more passionately, and pulled her closer to him.

Claire wrenched herself away at last. "Sirius, _that's _why we can't be together!" She kissed him again. "Because everything you want, I'm going to end up doing, and everything you need, I'm going to want to give it to you!" She kissed him a third time. "And I can't live like that! Sirius, I'm so _used_ to being in control! I manipulate people, too, Sirius… I'm _always _manipulating people. I don't even think about it most of the time; it's just who I am." He kissed her, then; he couldn't stop himself. Claire held him away after a few moments and continued, gazing into his eyes, their faces inches apart, "I like you _so much_, Sirius… I could love you, even, if I'd let myself, but–"

"So what's the problem, Claire," Sirius interrupted in a whisper, not taking his eyes from hers. "Hell, I could love you, too, if you'd let me. We could live happily ever after and none would be the wiser!"

Claire smiled sadly. "Listen, Sirius," she said slowly. "Here's the thing: I won't ever be with you. I_ will not_." She paused for a moment, and then continued, "It's because you're stronger than I am, don't you see? And most girls wouldn't care – or wouldn't even _notice_ – but _I _notice because my entire life up 'til now, _I've_ been the manipulative one."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "You won't be with me because I'm too strong for you? Oh, man, _Claire_… you aren't going to just settle down and marry some wimpy guy, are you?"

Claire rolled her eyes. "Maybe. Or maybe I'll just marry Hector, or maybe I'll become a bigamist and marry you _and_ Hector, or maybe I'll just die old, alone, and unwed."

Sirius grinned. "Become a bigamist. Hell… you, me and Hector Zabini? That'd be _loads_ of fun…"

Claire laughed. "Mm… yeah, _no_." She sighed. "Sirius, are we going to end this when these detentions are over?"

Sirius frowned. "I wasn't planning on it."

Claire frowned, too. "It's just… it'll be really hard, getting together without detention as an excuse."

Sirius took a breath. He was on the verge of suggesting, for the umpteenth time, that she break up with Zabini already, but decided to respect her wishes for the time being and not bring up the subject just yet. "So you want to end it, then?" he demanded smoothly. "You want to just call it quits after Sunday?"

Claire sighed, and looked at him searchingly. "Honestly? No, I don't. _Au contraire_, I really, really like this, and I really like you. But I also don't think we're going to be able to make it work out past Sunday."

Sirius grinned crookedly, deciding that he had plenty of time later in which to convince her otherwise. "Well, then we'd best make up for the time we'll lose, huh?"

Claire laughed; Sirius pushed her bangs to the side and kissed her tenderly on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her and sank with her to the classroom floor, where he rolled over on top of her and lay, propped up on his elbows, gazing down into her face. Claire took his face in hers and kissed him again; Sirius opened up her robes and ran his hands up under her shirt to her breasts. They made love on the floor, she below, him on top, metaphorically appropriating the fact that he was stronger and more manipulative than she was.

Ah, the symbolism of it all…

* * *

Heh heh heh… yeah, it's M now. So sue me. 

French translations:

_imbécile _– imbecile; idiot; fool; etc. (pick one!)

_J'en ai rien à foutre!_ – I don't give a fuck!

_Espèce d'idiot, je _- literally, "You species of idiot, I–" but I'd probably translate it as "You dumb-fuck"

Reviews!

lavizsla – aw, you flatter me! Thank you!

je suis une pizza – hmm, sorry you're confused… did you read to the end of chapter 3? I think I explained it pretty well there… But just to recap: no, this story is _not_ just about Sirius and Claire. She's leaving and/or graduating (probably by the end of the next chapter) and then he's getting a new girl.

df – Yeah, I think so. With Claire, _maybe_; with one of the future intrigues I have planned, _yes_.

frytal – Thank you! I will!

dixio – Again, very flattered! I will!

Potpoury – Glad you think I write well, glad you like the story… and I _will_ surprise you, damn it! ;)

Padfootz-luvr – Yeah, it always bothers me when people make Peter out to be a jackass… I mean, they didn't suspect him of being the one who betrayed the Potters for over a decade; you'd think he'd seem pretty nice. And about Claire becoming Blaise Zabini's mother… cough "That girl could get away with murder if she wanted to." cough

Sweet 16 Movie Buff – I'm glad you think I'm (ahem) "damn good!" And yes, I suppose we _will_ just find out over the next couple of chapters…

Soooo… just so y'all know, I have the rest of this story completely planned out in my head, and I promise I won't give up on it! There might be long breaks between my updates, but don't worry; all will be revealed in due course.

One thing to ponder:

Should Hector find out? Because originally I was going to make him never find out, but now I think that having him walk in on them or something might be kind of fun… (He and Claire would work through it, of course, because they're _destined_ for each other, but _still…_)

Tell me your opinion (if you care one way or the other) in a review! And please review even if you don't care; I LOOOOOVE reviews! I am a review whore! Plus they make me update faster, so everyone wins! ;D

Kisses,

Simone


	5. Redhanded

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **M. Actually, there's nothing _too_ lurid in this chapter, though there are plenty of opportunities for extreme M-ness. I guess I'm just not chill with writing hardcore "lemon" stuff. If you want to read porn, go and read it somewhere else. This story is as yet only a _semi_-guilty pleasure.

Still definitely M, though.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

**A/N:** So! This story is really ridiculously fun to write, and it's a shame because I'm quite busy and don't often have evenings free (or weekends where I don't have more exciting things to do) to write more. As it stands, when I get very bored in class I plan out future chapters and/or plot twists in my head. So now I've got the whole damn story hammered out, but have yet to type it! Perplexing, eh?

Anyway, I got sick of Claire and this chapter is the result. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Five

_Red-handed_

Tuesday detention was rather enjoyable. Sirius came in on time; Claire came in only moments later. Lamont looked surprised at their promptness, but did not comment; instead, she gave them instructions to keep categorizing as before and left the room without another word.

"So!" said Sirius brightly, grabbing Claire about the waist and forcing her over to the wall. Claire smiled and leaned up to kiss him gently on the lips. Then she opened her mouth to say something, but Sirius didn't let her; he kissed her passionately and didn't pull away until a good ten minutes later when she ran out of air and pushed him back.

They didn't talk much for the next hour or so. It was as if they had come to an unspoken agreement: Sirius wouldn't try to persuade Claire to go out with him, and she wouldn't risk talking for fear of being persuaded despite herself. Instead, they kissed one another, touched one another, smiled contently at one another, and said little. At one point they sat on the floor, Sirius leaning against the wall below the chalkboard and Claire sitting between his legs. Sirius gave Claire a massage while she taught him how to say phrases in French.

"And what if I wanted to say, 'What the fuck is that monkey doing?'" Sirius murmured in her right ear, grazing it with his lips.

A corner of Claire's mouth twitched into a grin as she leaned back into him; he wrapped his arms around her middle and she tilted her chin back to smile up at him.

"You can't say that. I mean…" She thought for a moment. "You can't say 'fuck' in the middle of a sentence like that. It doesn't work that way."

Sirius frowned, and ran one hand up her stomach to her breasts, where he rested it contentedly. "Well, how would you say something of a similar infliction?"

Claire raised her eyebrows. "How about a phrase that you could actually _use_?" she suggested. "Those are generally much easier to translate."

Sirius gave a huff of indignation. "Hey, I could very well see myself spotting a monkey… in France… doing something unusual and needing to say, 'What the fuck is that monkey doing?'! God, Claire – do you want me to be inept?"

Claire laughed gently. "Well… I don't know. There's not really a word for 'fuck.'"

"How sad," said Sirius at once.

Claire rolled her eyes. "Not like that… just, people don't say it that way. They say _putain_ or _merde_ or whatever. Or _putain merde_… like as one exclamation."

Sirius nodded, and gave an exaggerated yawn. "Fascinating." Claire laughed and he grinned roguishly at her. Then he began unbuttoning her shirt, and she stretched her arms up around his neck and pulled herself up to kiss him.

A while later, when Claire was sitting topless in his lap, Sirius asked couldn't help himself.

"Go out with me?" he prodded, but Claire rolled her eyes, thought for a moment, couldn't come up with anything satisfactory to say in response, and so resorted to taking his face in her hands and kissing him tenderly. Sirius grinned through Claire's kisses.

"Is that a yes?"

Claire shook her head, still kissing him.

"Is that a maybe?"

Claire groaned and pulled back to glare at him, their eyes inches apart. "Sirius, just shut up and kiss me back."

He grinned. "Can do." He pulled her closer to him and kissed her sweetly enough to turn the mind of any sane girl.

"Fuck... _putain merde!_ Why are you so good at this?" Claire demanded, looking at him accusingly.

Sirius shrugged, and smirked at her. "I'm just lucky, I guess."

-

At dinner, Peter had big news.

"I'm going out with Linnet Blakely," he said.

"_Who_?" James demanded.

"The spell girl," Remus supplemented, looking bemused. "Huh… since when have you liked her, anyway?"

Peter shrugged. "Well… Coralee Schuyler found herself some Hufflepuff bloke and Linnet was telling me about it in the library. Then… well, we sort of started snogging…"

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Sounds like something _I_ would do," he said pleasantly. "Good for you, Wormtail."

Peter rolled his eyes and tried not to grin.

James put on an incredulous face. "Um… hello? More details, please?"

Peter couldn't hide his grin now. "Well… the two of them are friends, yeah? So, Linnet already knew that I liked Cora and we'd always talk in the library about it. Then today I heard that Cora was going out with some guy and I went to find Linnet to pour my heart out and have her give me all the painful details." He was now grinning sheepishly. "Somewhere in the middle of comforting me – because she's really a nice person, she's very kind – she took off her glasses for a moment to wipe them on her shirt and then she smiled at me…" He exhaled slowly and said with mock-seriousness, "It was then that I realized she was truly gorgeous."

James, Remus, and Sirius all stared at him, wearing identical grins.

"Is she really?" James then said, conjuring an image of Linnet Blakely in his mind and frowning a bit. "Gorgeous, I mean? You sure that's not too strong a term…?"

"Oh, shut up," Remus said, rolling his eyes and elbowing James in the side while Sirius snorted.

Meanwhile, Peter smiled, unperturbed. "Well, I know she's not, like, _really_ hot, but, hey – _I_ think she's quite pretty."

James nodded in agreement. "So what happened then? You leaned in and kissed her in slow motion while romantic orchestra music played in the background?"

Peter leaned his head first to one side, then to the other. "Something like that."

"Good for you, Wormtail," Sirius said briskly for the second time in five minutes.

"Congrats," Remus added, smiling broadly.

Peter grinned. He swiveled in his seat and scanned the Ravenclaw table for Linnet Blakely, who had been watching him out of the corner of one glasses-clad eye. She waved, and Peter winked at her.

-

As Sirius lay in bed Wednesday morning waiting for his turn to get up and use the bathroom, he smiled to himself, recalling the previous day with Claire.

He liked her an awful lot, he had to admit. She was a appealing, she was attractive, and she was a challenge. Today he was going to force her to go out with him. No, force wasn't the right word at all – he was going to _convince _her to go out with him. Or better yet, allow her to admit what she had known for at least a week now: that she _desperately wanted_ to go out with him. And marry him. And bear his children.

Sirius grinned slightly. He had had no thoughts of marriage yet in life, and he had no genuine ones now, but he did like the mental image of several little Blacks with Claire's high cheekbones in berets and pigtails, jabbering away in French outside of a wee cottage while Hector Zabini glared at them jealously from a passing car. Sirius chuckled to himself.

He spent most of that day fantasizing about Claire during class, to the point where Remus, who was looking from Sirius and James (who was gazing avidly at Lily's back) with an ever-increasing look of concern on his face, whispered, "Sirius, one hormonal love struck friend is bad enough."

"For the love of God, snap out of it!" Peter added helpfully, putting on a desperate face and pretending to sound panicked.

Sirius grinned at them slowly. He had just been reliving the events of the previous evening, when he had trailed his tongue up Claire's neck and then given her a full-body massage. Ah, good times.

-

Wednesday detention proved unfortunate. Actually, unfortunate was an understatement, Sirius would think hours later as he lay in his bed trying to sort things out.

It started out as all of the other detentions thus far had: Lamont left, Sirius and Claire enchanted the quills, and then the making out began. They had been kissing one another for about an hour, and Claire's shirt was unbuttoned save for the second to last hole, when there was a brief knock on the door. As Sirius and Claire turned toward it, suddenly panic-stricken, their arms still wrapped around one another, marks of Claire's lipstick lying rather prominently on Sirius's cheeks and mouth, the door swung open.

In walked Hector Zabini, saying cheerfully, "Hey Claire, I just ducked out of detention! I figured I'd come by here and say–" He seemed to realize what he was seeing, and stared at Claire, who had hastily pulled away from Sirius and pulled her shirt closer around her, with a look of utter disbelief on his face. "–hi," he finished.

The room was deathly quiet; only the ceaseless scratching of the quills could be heard in the background.

"Okay, seriously, _what_ the _fuck_?" Hector demanded at last, glaring at Sirius and then at Claire again, who had covered her mouth with her hand and looked extremely apprehensive.

Sirius bit his lip awkwardly and tried to wipe some of the lipstick – why the bloody hell had Claire worn lipstick _today_, of all days? – off of his cheeks. He wasn't quite sure what to do. While he didn't really care if Hector was angry at him, he did not like how troubled Claire was looking.

"Black, what the _fuck_ have you two been doing?" Zabini insisted, taking a step forward and looking at Sirius with intense antagonism.

Sirius shrugged. Quite honestly, he wanted to reply, "Oh, nothing but _having an illicit affair behind your unaware back_! Hahaha! Take that, you arrogant Slytherin prick!" However, saying this would have been exceptionally brainless, so Sirius kept quiet.

Claire had started speaking. "Hector, I can explain," she murmured.

"You had damn well better!" Hector snapped at her. "Or should we just call it quits right now, then?" He looked on the verge of tears.

Sirius coughed into his fist somewhat inelegantly. Maybe they _would _call it quits and he and Claire could go get back to what they had been doing before goddamn Zabini had interrupted them!

Claire, however, took a step forward hesitantly and then strode across the room. "Hector," she whispered, putting her hands on his arms and looking up at him. He shuddered and glared at her. There were tears in his eyes. It was all so melodramatic and awkward that Sirius couldn't help but want to laugh, not because it was particularly amusing but because he needed to do _something_.

"Hector, I'm so, so, _so_ sorry," Claire whispered, leaning toward him and whispering in his ear. "I'm honestly and truly sorry." She pulled back to look at him, then turning her head toward Sirius said, "Sirius, go work on categorizing, would you?"

Sirius raised one eyebrow at her and made his way to the front of the classroom, where he took one of the quills and let it guide his hand along the parchment.

Claire was talking quietly to Zabini again. "Hector, I swear I can explain. It's just..." She frowned. "How did you get in, anyway? Lamont locked the door."

Hector shrugged dully. "Locked from the inside, maybe. Those are the harder charms to break, aren't they?"

Claire gave a shrug of affirmation. Then she took a deep breath and said, "Hector, please don't be upset. The only reason anything happened was because we've been going out for ages and I guess I felt like I was missing out on… on life." She looked at him imploringly. "Please understand… it's no different from at the wedding when you were angry over the way I was greeting old friends."

A corner of Zabini's mouth twitched slightly. Sirius, focused intently on his quill, felt his brow furrow. That manipulative Claire Delacour… it wasn't true at all, she'd _told_ him that what they had was different from all of those escapades down in France.

"Hector, I need you to forgive me," Claire said quietly. "I still love you and I know you're upset but… this is _me._ I'm friendly and comfortable and sometimes I get a bit carried away."

"I know," Zabini mumbled, raising an eyebrow in annoyance.

Claire gave him a tiny, desperate smile. "Hector… _s'il te plaît_…" She had switched into French now and Sirius could no longer follow the conversation. At first it was one-sided but then Hector murmured something, and Claire smiled, and then Hector said something else and Claire squeezed his hand.

Then Lamont strode back into the classroom, the clock showing quarter to six.

"What on earth is going on here?" she demanded sharply. Her eyes shifted from Sirius, who had hastily grabbed Claire's tireless quill and sat on it to keep it from writing more, to Claire, who was holding Zabini's hand and talking to him in very gentle, pleading French, to Zabini, who was meeting Claire's gaze determinedly.

"Oh… Hector stopped by after his detention and we… I… was just saying hello," Claire replied at once.

Lamont's nostrils flared.

"I'm sorry, Professor," Claire continued. "I know it was wrong, just – well, detention was almost over…"

"Miss Delacour, please return to you seat. Mr. Zabini, please leave this classroom." Lamont turned to Sirius. "At least Mr. Black is still at work."

Sirius raised his eyebrows briefly at her and turned back to his parchment.

-

"Are you fucking with me?" James shouted. "Zabini fucking _walked in on you_?"

Sirius shrugged. "Yeah. It was pretty awkward."

James looked flabbergasted. "I'll say! And what'd Claire do? Did she cry?"

Sirius shook his head at once. "Nah… she was pretty suave about it, actually; I saw them talking after dinner and they looked pretty civil."

They were up in their dormitory, changing into their pajamas. "Well, I'm not going to say _I told you so_, but…" Remus trailed off.

Sirius smiled grimly. "Yeah… well, it is sort of depressing, but I reckon we'll figure it out in detention tomorrow, right?"

Remus shrugged. "Maybe. Have you talked to Claire since earlier?"

Sirius shook his head. "No..." Suddenly he groaned. "God damn it! Why the hell did Zabini need to find out? Ugh, Claire should have dumped him ages ago…"

Peter smiled slightly. "You'll move on, Padfoot; you always do."

Sirius frowned. "No, I don't think I will. Well… maybe eventually, but for now I feel extremely hurt and emotionally distraught. Do comfort me."

James snorted. "Oh, I'm so sorry the affair you started turned out badly," he said sincerely. "You truly are a victim."

"Poor baby," Peter added.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Shut up; I don't need sympathy from _you_ two." He turned to Remus hopefully.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Well… I suppose you feel sad, but… look here, let's just go to bed, yeah?"

"Wait! I want to hear about Peter's little stroll with Linnet Blakely earlier!" James chirped up. He glanced at Sirius. "Not to change the subject too drastically, that is."

Sirius groaned. "Ugh. Do what you want."

"Well, we went down toward the lake and held hands for a bit by the east shore," Peter piped happily.

"Aw!" James crooned.

Sirius grunted and rolled over on his bed, determined to go to sleep. All in all, the evening had been quite the disappointment. He pondered what he could have done differently.

_Why does Moony need to be right all the time?_

_Why does Claire need to like Zabini so much?_

_Why don't I feel guiltier?_

-

Claire was not at detention on Thursday.

"She came to me and said the two of you distract one another too much while working," Lamont said dully. "I agreed to transfer her to a different detention hall."

"Oh," Sirius mumbled. He sat down, waited for Lamont to leave, and then spent a very dull two hours watching his quill categorize and wishing that he had remembered to bring his mirror so as to talk to James.

Claire did not speak to him in the hallways anymore. She would catch his eye when they passed one another, but as soon as he opened his mouth to say something she would shake her head furtively and continue on, usually on Zabini's arm. It appeared that nobody knew about the situation but a select few; Claire had not told her friends and Zabini had not told his. They appeared to be working through the problem, largely, Sirius was sure, due to the fact that Claire was a master of manipulation and getting away with things. What he could not understand was why she insisted on staying with Zabini when the situation was so ideal for moving on.

Whenever Evetta Niall or Tara Nevan or Savannah Baron tried to flirt with him now, he didn't respond. On Friday evening after Quidditch practice, Savannah ran to catch up with Sirius and James as they headed back up the sloping lawn toward dinner.

"Hello," she said brightly, avoiding James's gaze and addressing Sirius.

James smiled weakly and Sirius said, "Hey."

Savannah flashed a smile. "So… lovely evening, yeah?"

It was. The sun was just setting behind the mountains and the air was soft. It had rained the night before, but now the sky was relatively free from clouds. Tonight was to be a full moon, and Sirius was looking forward to the time a few hours from now when he, James, and Peter would sneak out to see Remus.

Sirius nodded. "Mm."

"So," Savannah said again, taking her long blonde hair out of its ponytail and then combing it up into a new one with her hands, "how's life, Sirius?"

"Mm," he said again.

Savannah laughed delicately. "Glad to hear it."

Sirius smiled. "How's yours?"

She shrugged. "Can't complain." She hesitated a moment and then linked her arm through his.

"What, should we skip up to the castle now?" Sirius demanded, unable to hide an amused smile as he turned to look at her.

She shrugged, and swung her arms back and forth a few times exaggeratedly. "If you want."

Sirius barked out a laugh. He glanced back at James, who was wearing a painfully forced smile that looked more like a grimace, and then back at Savannah. "I think I'll pass, actually."

"_Awww_," Savannah said, putting on an air of extreme disappointment and pouting out her lower lip. She was getting too flirtatious; Sirius fought hard not to roll his eyes.

Instead, he gave a forced laugh. "Yeah, well, my apologies," he said, extracting his arm from hers under the pretense of scratching his head and thinking wistfully of how wonderful it would have been to bitch to Claire about all this.

-

Up in their dormitory after dinner that night, waiting for eleven o'clock when they could sneak out of the castle to see Remus, Peter was talking animatedly about Linnet Blakely, of whom he was evidently enamored.

"She's so smart!" he gushed. "She helped me with my Herbology homework today, and she's not even in N.E.W.T. Herbology yet!"

He was sitting against James's bed, looking at James, who was lounging on Sirius's, and Sirius, who was sitting on his pillow and leaning against his carved wooden headboard.

Sirius snorted despite himself. "What on earth does she see in you?" he demanded, careful to keep his tone lighthearted.

Peter smiled. "Who knows? All I care about is that she's _so_ awesome!"

Sirius smiled, too, but blandly. This was reminding him very much of how he had gushed over Claire.

_Ugh, but it's all still true about Claire_, he thought resignedly. He wished there were a way for him to go and have a nice long chat with her without Zabini finding out.

"So, Padfoot… Savannah," James said, interrupting Peter's longwinded description of how he had kissed Linnet Blakely behind the greenhouses the other day.

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "What about her?"

James shrugged. "Well… look here, are you going to go out with her any time soon? Only I think if you don't, she and I are going to be forced into increasingly awkward situations for the rest of our lives."

Sirius shook his head rapidly, not having listened very closely. "Um… what?"

James smiled. "It's just that whenever she comes over to hit on you, I'm always right there! It's very… weird. I'm of the opinion that you should just let her snog you and get it over with."

Sirius frowned. "What if I don't really feel like snogging her at the moment?"

James shrugged. "Get over it. Or else there's a Hogsmeade trip on Sunday; you should ask her out. She's quite pretty, and not a half bad kisser, either… I know from experience."

Sirius laughed. "That you do."

James shrugged again. "Whatever… hell, or just go out with Tara already, you're bound to do that sometime or another too, you might as well–"

"Ah! I don't _like_ Tara!" Sirius interrupted. "And Annie... well, I'm not ready for her yet! Look here, I'm still emotionally heartbroken over losing Claire! Surely you can show some _compassion…_" He smiled to show he was kidding. Sort of.

James laughed gently. "Padfoot, dear, Claire was never yours to begin with. Get over it already."

Sirius sighed resignedly and decided not to bother claiming otherwise.

-

He did not get a chance to talk to Claire until Sunday, the last day of detention. He was sitting in the classroom feeling very bored and distracted, pondering why he was so unmotivated to move on from Claire, when the door opened.

"Hey," Claire said clearly, coming across the room toward him.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at her. Her hair was back in a ponytail today and she had clipped a pretty barrette onto one side. Sirius's heart started beating more swiftly in his chest. "Fancy seeing you here," he remarked.

Claire smiled. "Yeah, well… I'm skipping detention today."

Sirius lowered one of his eyebrows but kept the other one raised. "Are you now?"

She nodded. "Whatever. I wanted to talk to you."

Sirius smiled slightly. "Ah. Well, do talk."

Claire came over and sat down opposite him. She watched his quill categorize unaided for a few moments and then said, "Sirius, I'm sorry this didn't work out."

He shrugged. "Well, it wouldn't have, anyway. You know that."

She nodded. "Yeah… but it's just… I miss you."

Sirius smiled and took her hand in his; Claire didn't stop him. "I really like you, Claire… it's a shame Zabini caught us."

Claire smiled, too, but said nothing.

"So what's the deal with you two now?"

Claire shrugged. "Whatever. He's forgiven me, for the most part… I told him it wasn't that big a deal…"

Sirius snorted. "_Not that big a deal_… Claire, you are a filthy liar."

She shrugged again and then nodded in agreement. "Sirius, I'm probably not going to get to see you much anymore, so… I don't know. I guess I just wanted to tell you that… that I wish things could have worked out."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Claire, you know nothing had a chance of working out in the long run. Stop being all sweet and manipulative with me; it won't work."

To his surprise, she grinned. "I love you, Sirius Black," she said in a sing-song voice.

He raised his eyebrows at her and grinned back. "I love you too, Claire Delacour. Now come on, let's just snog already, for old time's sake."

Claire let out a bemused laugh of astonishment. "Sirius, dear, I came here to end our little romance on good terms, not to rekindle it."

Sirius frowned. "Well, that's no fun."

Claire sighed. "It's just… Sirius, not to be painfully cliché, but Hector _is_ my future. School ends in two months and then he and I are going down to France to visit my family… hell, we'll probably be married within a couple more years…" She suddenly looked sad. "It's so strange… I never gave it a second thought until I got to know _you_…"

Sirius didn't let her keep talking; he leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

It all felt very familiar. Sirius was just sliding his tongue into her mouth when Claire regained control of herself, pulled away, and said, "That's it, Sirius. That's the last time."

"Claire…" Sirius began.

She shook her head sharply. "Sirius, think about it this way: I'm breaking up with you."

He smiled slightly. "When you put it _that_ way…"

She smiled, too. "Move on, Sirius. Go find a new girlfriend; you deserve it." Suddenly she laughed. "Well, sort of."

He grinned. "You're breaking up with me… does that mean we were dating at some point?"

She rolled her eyes. "Think whatever you want. Just don't tell anyone." She squeezed his hand one last time. "Er… I won't forget you. Some time twenty years from now I'll hear about you and remember this."

Sirius winked at her. "Likewise."

Then she was gone, flashing him one last dimpled smile over her shoulder, and Sirius Black never snogged Claire Delacour in a deserted classroom again.

-

At dinner, Sirius was distinctly more cheerful than he had been over the past few days. Somehow, talking to Claire with such closure had helped him to see the hopelessness in the situation. Also, having her officially "dump" him was familiar enough to Sirius (though admittedly, he was usually the one who did the breaking up) that he knew how to rebound and react.

Thus, when James asked why Sirius was acting so jovial, Sirius replied,

"Oh, Claire broke up with me."

James put on an immensely confused look. "Um… okay…"

Sirius grinned. "I'm free now."

James raised one eyebrow. "Um… again, I'll say…"

He was interrupted by Peter, who came over to the table accompanied by Linnet Blakely, with whom he was holding hands. "Hello, everyone," Peter said cheerfully, leading Linnet to a seat and taking the one next to her.

"Joining us for dinner, Blakely?" Remus said pleasantly from across the table.

Linnet nodded. "Well… Peter ate with me yesterday, so we figured it was my turn to cross over."

Remus nodded. "How egalitarian of you."

Sirius smiled, too, his good mood lingering on. He turned toward Linnet. "Say, Linnet, I can never thank you enough for coming up with that categorizing spell." He put on a sincere, serene expression. "It has greatly improved the quality of my life."

Linnet giggled. Now that his mind was off of Claire, Sirius again noticed her straight teeth and dimples.

"Well, you're very welcome," she said pleasantly. She turned to smile at Peter. "Similarly, if _you_ ever need help during detention…"

Peter grinned. "I'll know where to find you." They both laughed affectionately.

Sirius glanced at James, who was sitting to his right, and rolled his eyes; James smiled tolerantly.

"You two are adorable," Tara Nevan said loudly to Peter and Linnet, taking the seat across the table next to Remus. She leaned toward Sirius and James. "Hey, you two! How's life?"

James shrugged. "Decent."

Sirius twitched one corner of his mouth into a smile. "Lovely."

Tara nodded. "Cool… so, are you two ready to win the Quidditch cup next weekend?"

Sirius nodded confidently. "Oh, of course. You should know that, already, Tara; I'm ashamed."

James was elbowing Sirius rather painfully in the side and coughing slightly.

Sirius elbowed him back. Tara raised one eyebrow at the two of them and said,

"Right…" Then she flipped her long light brown hair over one shoulder and turned to Remus. "And you, Remus, how's life?"

"I still don't fancy Tara," Sirius whispered flatly to James, "so stop elbowing me and coughing like an imbecile, damn it!"

James laughed. "Be that way," he replied stoutly.

-

Sirius had realized that a large percentage of the girls at Hogwarts were very, very annoying. They giggled and were stupid and asked dumb questions. Others, like Claire Delacour, were anything but irritating, but differentiating between the easily tolerable girls and the rest of the pack could prove difficult. It was thus with shock that Sirius realized Linnet Blakely was far from irksome.

He realized this on Tuesday afternoon. Linnet was in the Gryffindor common room (technically breaking the rules, but nobody minded) with Peter, and while he worked on an essay, she sat curled in a large armchair reading a book. Remus and James were in the library working on an essay and Sirius had just finished reviewing his Potions notes.

Sirius first came over to talk to Linnet because he noticed she wasn't wearing her large round glasses, and he wanted to know why.

"Say, Linnet, what's with the absence of glasses?" he asked.

She looked up from her book and smiled at him in greeting. "Oh… well, Peter was saying a while back that I might like contacts, so I sent out an owl order over the weekend and got them today. I think they look a lot better… what d'you think?"

Sirius nodded. "The look lovely… I can't see them, but they look lovely…"

Linnet smiled, showing her perfect teeth. "Thanks." She stretched, and put her book on the armrest of her chair. "What about you… ever wear glasses?"

Sirius shook his head. "Nah…" He put on a solemn expression. "My eyes are beautiful already."

Linnet laughed. "Well… I got mine when I was nine… Sort of hated them at first, but then I got used to it."

Sirius nodded. "Cool… so, are you coming to the match on Saturday? Going to watch us beat your house, and everything?"

Linnet laughed again. She seemed to laugh quite easily. _How very childlike_, Sirius thought approvingly.

"Well, I don't know about you lot beating Ravenclaw, but I'll definitely be there!" she replied, grinning broadly.

Sirius sat down in the chair next to hers, and Linnet continued to smile. "You have dimples," Sirius observed, leaning forward to examine one more closely.

Linnet giggled and reached up a finger to feel one herself. "I suppose I do," she admitted.

Sirius poked her cheek. "I'm jealous." He grinned at her.

"You should be!" Linnet replied, laughing again.

Peter looked up from his essay, smiling too. "Hey, Linnet–"

"You have dimples, too!" she exclaimed, as if realizing it for the first time. She slid off of her seat and skipped the few feet to Peter's chair, where she sat on the armrest. "Here, Peter, smile," she instructed, smiling as well. They struck something of a pose, both grinning at Sirius and bearing their pronounced dimples.

Sirius burst out laughing, not because it was particularly hilarious but because Linnet Blakely, with her pale British skin, large blue-gray eyes, and limp brown hair was so adorable.

And Sirius suddenly realized that Linnet Blakely wasn't all that half bad to look at. She had come back to her own chair, now, and was saying something to Peter, but Sirius wasn't listening; he was watching her. She had a small, ski slope nose, a smattering of freckles, eyebrows that had never known a pair of tweezers (not that they really needed it; but for a few stray hairs, they looked pretty well shaped to begin with), and sad stormy-blue eyes. Her hair, which fell past her shoulders, was a mousy sort of brown, and it was not straight but not quite wavy, the kind of hair that can be straightened or braided or curled with ease but does not look particularly exciting otherwise. She also had some pimples on her forehead, but Sirius didn't notice them because nobody ever notices anyone else's acne.

The removal of her glasses had definitely bumped Linnet Blakely out of the Unnoticeable category; right now, she was probably in the Not-Particularly-Gorgeous-But-Still-Nothing-Wrong-There category.

"Hey, how old are you?" Sirius asked Linnet when she had finished talking to Peter.

"I turned fifteen in February," she replied.

He nodded. "How about you, Peter?" he asked, trying not to smile. "How old are you, again?"

"Seventeen in January. You know that," he replied without looking up.

Sirius grinned. "That's a large age difference. Good job snagging an older man, Linnet; I'm impressed."

Linnet giggled again. "Thank you."

Peter snorted. "_You_ can't start talking about age differences, Padfoot."

Linnet laughed, not that she really knew what Peter was talking about, and Sirius said, "Oh, of course I can..." He glanced at the clock over the mantle and wondered dully when James and Remus would come back from the library. Actually, come to that, he needed to visit the library himself.

"I'm going to go to the library and find something to help me write my Transfiguration essay," Sirius said. "Care to accompany me, either of you?"

Peter shook his head, but to Sirius's immense surprise Linnet glanced at her watch and said, "Actually, I need to find a book for Potions… I'll come."

"So long," Peter called as Sirius and Linnet made their way across the common room and out of the portrait hole.

"See you!" Linnet piped back happily.

As they strolled down the seventh floor corridor, Sirius interrogated Linnet regarding her romantic involvement with Peter.

"So… do tell all," he finished pleasantly.

Linnet giggled. "Well, I always knew how nice he was… and you know Cora, my friend?" Sirius nodded, and Linnet continued, "Well, Peter fancied her for a while, and he and I would always talk about it, and I really hoped that the two of them would get together…" She smiled at Sirius shyly. "Actually, I sort of like _you_ for a while then..."

Sirius pretended to be surprised. "Really?" he asked, laughing a bit.

Linnet nodded. "Yeah…" There was a brief, awkward silence, and then Linnet continued, "So then Peter kissed me in the library, and I was _so_ surprise because I'd thought that he'd always liked _Cora_! And… now we're going out."

Sirius smiled slightly. Ah, the romance of the innocent… he wondered what Linnet would say if he told her about his intrigue with Claire. (Of course, he wasn't really planning on telling anybody, at least not while Claire and Zabini still attended Hogwarts.)

"Erm… how about you?" Linnet asked. "Who was your last girlfriend?"

Sirius grinned, and gave an uncomfortable laugh, not because he was uncomfortable but because that was how people were suppose to respond to a question like that. "Well, my last _girlfriend_, I guess, was Leda Mitchell... you know her?"

Linnet thought for a moment and then nodded. "Hufflepuff sixth year? Yeah… what happened there?"

Sirius smiled, amused that he was having this rather personal conversation with a fifteen-year-old. "I don't know… it didn't work out." _Because I cheated on her with Vanity Linus_, he added to himself.

"Oh… so, you've been single since then?" Linnet asked naively.

Sirius hesitated for a moment. "Er… yeah. No real commitments, or anything."

Linnet nodded and reached her hands up behind her head, braiding her limp hair as they walked.

"Wait, don't do that," Sirius said, grinning. "It looks much better down."

Linnet blushed and lowered her hands. Sirius realized he was slipping into his flirtatious mode… and with Linnet Blakely, no less! Good lord, he was rebounding pathetically…

But then again, what was the harm in doing something with Linnet Blakely?

_Oh yes,_ Sirius recalled belatedly, _she's going out with Wormtail_.

They had reached the library. Sirius bid Linnet adieu and set off to find Remus and James.

-

On Friday after the last Quidditch practice before the final match on Saturday, Sirius went up to the common room to find Peter and Linnet once again sitting by the fireplace. This time, rather than doing homework, they were talking, and Peter had his arm around her.

"Awww," James crooned in Sirius's ear as they climbed through the portrait hole, closely followed by Savannah Baron, who had trailed them up to the castle.

"They are so _cute_," Savannah whispered in Sirius's other ear. He smiled at her and nodded slightly; lately, Gina Davies and James had been conspicuously trying to make him go for Savannah, and it was almost working.

After showering and changing their clothes, Sirius and James made their way back down to the common room to find that Remus had joined Peter and Linnet by the fireplace.

"How come Moony doesn't have a girlfriend?" Sirius murmured in James's ear, voicing something that wasn't always applicable but at the moment seemed legitimate.

"He's too closeted and self-righteous," James replied at once.

"Ah…"

They found seats near the fireplace. "Hello, you two!" James said cheerfully. "Oh, and Moony…"

"Hi!" said Linnet pleasantly, snuggling closer to Peter.

Lily and Savannah came down the girls' staircase, Lily with a white headband in her thick auburn hair and Savannah running her fingers through her own blonde hair, which she had evidently just cleaned and blow-dried, based on how long and windswept it had become.

As Savannah whispered something to Lily with a furtive glance in Sirius's direction, James caught sight of them. "Lily!" he called pleasantly, standing up and striding over.

Lily heaved a deep breath, pointedly turned on her heel, and made her way back up the girls' staircase, calling something back to Savannah that sounded like, "Oh darn, I forgot my… um… comb."

James and Savannah glanced at one another awkwardly and then Savannah said, "Right…"

She turned around, too, and headed up the girls' staircase after Lily, no doubt with the intention of convincing her to come back down to the common room.

Meanwhile, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Linnet all laughed. "Oh, shut up," said James distractedly.

"What are you doing in here anyway, Linnet?" Sirius asked, turning away from James and pretending to be affronted. "This is the _Gryffindor_ common room... and you, well, aren't in Gryffindor!"

Linnet giggled. "Just don't tell on me, okay?"

Sirius smiled blandly. Watching Peter sitting there with Linnet, he began to realize that it had been nearly a week since the last time he had kissed a girl… far too long, in his opinion… and Linnet Blakely was, well, reasonably appealing.

Come to that, Sirius was finding himself increasingly interested in the concept of hooking up with Linnet Blakely. Not dating her, or anything like that – but he wouldn't say no to snogging her for a while. He liked kissing new girls; it was fun to add names to his repertoire.

Ugh. Claire Delacour to Linnet Blakely… he was sure lowering his standards.

Oh well.

Actually, now that he thought about it some more, turning to gaze at the fire so Linnet wouldn't notice he had been watching her, the _real_ reason he wanted to potentially hook up with her was to spite James, who kept telling him to go out with Savannah or Tara.

Also because hooking up was fun. He was in the mood to have fun.

Besides, he'd probably hook up with Savannah after the Quidditch cup anyway, especially if Gryffindor won.

"I'm going to go get some chocolate upstairs," Sirius announced. "Anybody want some?"

"Ooh, _yes_!" Remus said at once; James rolled his eyes, Peter smiled, and Linnet giggled.

"No shit; anyone _else_?" Sirius asked, turned from person to person.

"What do _you _think, Padfoot? 'No, nobody here likes chocolate'" James said sarcastically.

Sirius smiled tolerantly. "Well, I need help carrying it all down, then," he replied. He turned to Linnet. "Linnet? Care to leave dear Peter for a moment and help me out?"

Linnet looked surprised. "Oh! Okay."

She followed Sirius out of the common room; they made their way up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

She was good deal shorter than he was. Or no, she was probably about as tall as Claire, but while Claire had perfect posture and poise, Linnet was willowy and slight.

_What would boarding school be without hooking up with people?_ Sirius thought idly.

When they reached the dark hallway outside the door to the sixth year boys' dormitory, Sirius decided this was as good a place as any. He stopped, turned to Linnet, who was waiting expectantly for him to open the door, and leaned forward.

Right before he closed his eyes, Sirius caught a glimpse of hers, which were wide in surprise. Yet she didn't look angry at all; on the contrary, she looked flattered.

Sirius forced his tongue into her mouth after only a few moments. Linnet gave a slight gasp of surprise; Sirius wondered if Peter _ever_ used his tongue when kissing her. Then she yielded and Sirius slid his hands to her waist and pushed her back against the wall. Linnet put her hands around his neck and started using her own tongue.

Sirius was surprised by how decent a kisser she was – not as good as Claire, of course, but considering that Linnet's first kiss had probably been that one with Peter less than two weeks ago, she wasn't half bad.

They stayed there in the hallway for a good ten minutes, until finally Sirius said, "We should probably bring that chocolate down soon."

Linnet nodded, looking quite at a loss for words. Her cheeks were flushed, greatly improving her plain appearance, and she looked energized.

Sirius grinned at her, put his arm around her shoulders, and led her into the dormitory. He quickly grabbed a few wrapped chocolate bars from Remus's dresser, handed a few more to Linnet, and then the two of them hurried back down to the common room.

"If anyone asks, I had to go to the bathroom and you waited for me," Sirius murmured in her ear, and Linnet nodded solemnly as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Finally!" James exclaimed when they reached the fireplace.

"Sirius had to go to the bathroom," Linnet replied at once. She sat down next to Peter distractedly, and Sirius realized that he had just made out with his friend's girlfriend. Oops.

_Then again, loads of people ruin their friends' romantic intrigues, so no worries_, Sirius reassured himself. And it wasn't like he was going to _tell_ Peter what he'd done… for that matter, Linnet didn't need to tell him, either; the two of them could happily date for the rest of their lives, never sharing the fact that Sirius had spent ten minutes kissing Linnet one Friday evening.

Linnet kept trying to catch his eye, but Sirius wouldn't let her. She really was a newcomer to illicit behavior... Sirius figured they should probably have a chat over cover-up protocol later.

-

Saturday afternoon was the Quidditch interhouse championship match. The conditions were rainy and visibility was low but the game went well from the start. Sirius flew around in the fog-filled air, hitting Bludgers sharply toward the Ravenclaw Chasers. Twice he caused one of them to drop the Quaffle, and both times Gina Davies grabbed it, passed to James, and won Gryffindor ten points.

Overall, the Ravenclaw Keeper was blocking most shots, but Gina's offensive tactics were resulting in so many attempted shots that by the first half-hour Gryffindor was up one hundred to sixty.

Savannah and James were working in perfect harmony, as they always did during matches, and as Savannah gave James a high-five in midair after a particularly difficult penalty shot, Sirius rolled his eyes at how pathetic their interactions were on solid ground.

"And Baron scores!" Gwendolyn Merwyn was shouting. "Ten more points to Gryffindor!"

Sirius followed Savannah with his eyes, and soon was careening after her, chasing after a Bludger that one of the Ravenclaw Beaters had sent slammed toward her.

"Thanks, Sirius!" Savannah called as she curved upward to hurl the ball to Gina. She whipped her long golden-blonde ponytail over her shoulder and flashed him a bright smile.

"Any time!" Sirius called back.

By the second hour of the game, the score was tied at two hundred and fifty all around, and things were getting more serious. But then, as Amos Diggory blocked an especially swift shot from one of the Ravenclaw Chasers, Ambrose Adams went into a steep dive and emerged moments later clutching the Snitch with both hands.

The crowd exploded with cheers and shouts from the Gryffindor supporters. "And Adams has the Snitch!" Gwendolyn Merwyn shouted. "Gryffindor wins the House Cup!"

The Gryffindor team landed on the pitch as fans poured out of the stands. Gina was hugging and kissing everybody repeatedly, Amos Diggory and James were chanting something about being champions of the world, and Savannah surprised Sirius (though not all that much) with a swift peck on the lips.

He smiled, delighted over the outcome of the match and feeling in the mood to flirt, put his arms around her, her head snug against his shoulder, and then stood with his arm across her shoulders while the Quidditch cup was presented to Gina amid much ceremony.

Twenty minutes later, as the team made its way back up to the Gryffindor common room for a post-match celebration, Sirius caught sight of Remus and Peter. Linnet Blakely, however, was nowhere in sight.

"Great job, mate!" Remus exclaimed.

Peter nodded in agreement, but he looked distracted.

"Eh? What's up?" Sirius demanded as Savannah Baron came up and wormed her way under his arm again.

"Oh… nothing… just…"

Remus coughed slightly. "Linnet just broke up with him," he said quietly.

"Oh," said Sirius, taken aback. "That's too bad… I'm sorry, Peter. Did she say why?"

"She just said she liked somebody else now," Peter said hollowly. He sighed. "Well, I guess we'll see you back up in the common room, yeah?"

"Yeah," said Sirius, turning to Savannah, who promptly kissed him again, and hoping very much that Linnet hadn't dumped Peter on account of their escapade the night before.

He caught sight of her through the crowd, a slight girl with mousy hair and large eyes, which were clear and bright without glasses obscuring them. Linnet saw Sirius and hurried forward to say talk to him, but before Sirius could say anything to her Savannah whispered something in his ear. As the din of the crowd was very strong, Sirius turned momentarily back toward Savannah.

"Sorry?"

She just laughed happily and pressed her lips against his again. By the time Sirius had grinned at her and turned away to try to catch sight of Linnet again, she had disappeared back into the crowd, feeling her heart breaking and trying very hard not to cry.

-

Up in the common room, post-match euphoria still going strong, Sirius quickly forgot about Linnet Blakely. He no longer cared that James was smirking at him in satisfaction as Savannah straddled him with her legs and kissed him passionately for the twelfth time in ten minutes. Lily appeared to be giving Savannah a satisfied smirk as well; Sirius grinned at her and whispered, "I think our friends have been planning this for ages."

Savannah nodded, grinned back, and kissed him again.

"Well, well! What on earth are _you_ two up to?" Gina Davies demanded, plopping down on the couch next to them, a bottle of butterbeer clutched in one hand.

Savannah and Sirius both laughed; she slid off of his lap so that she was sitting next to him, her head leaning against his shoulder, and Sirius grinned at Gina and said, "What does it look like?"

"I was _wondering _when the two of you were going to get together!" Gina remarked, nodding knowingly. "I think I'll go find Amos and celebrate!"

"Oh, you can do better than him," Savannah said, looking extremely content now that she had Sirius's arm around her. "Go snog James or something!"

Gina tilted her head from side to side, considering. "Nah. He's destined for Lily; I don't want to interfere."

Sirius grinned again; he was still high on endorphins and was greatly enjoying himself. Glancing around the room, he caught sight of Tara Nevan, who was chatting with two fifth year boys but kept glancing over at Savannah distractedly, looking somewhat put out. He also saw Remus, who had stuck up conversation with Lily (it appeared they were discussing Sirius and Savannah, actually) and Peter, who was sitting by the fireplace with his head in his hands and looking quite depressed.

"Why's Peter so sad?" Savannah murmured in Sirius's ear, following his gaze with her wide brown eyes.

"His girlfriend dumped him," Sirius murmured back, trying to conceal the guilt on his voice.

_Then again, they were dating for less than two weeks,_ he told himself. _He'll get over her soon enough._

"Aw. Poor guy," Savannah remarked. She blew her long, feathery bangs out of her face with one puff of breath and, leaning closer, touched Sirius's ear with the tip of her tongue.

Sirius smile satisfactorily and turned toward her, kissing her gently and then more forcefully. They pulled apart for a moment to grin at one another; Savannah was especially pretty at close proximity, where the sharp contrast of her straight nose and dark eyes and eyebrows with her golden, blonde-highlighted hair was more noticeable. They brushed noses ever-so-gently, and then Sirius kissed her again.

"Hello? I'm still sitting here!" Gina shrieked in amusement. "Damn… you two should've gotten together _ages_ ago!"

"Dude, get a room," Tara Nevan said coldly as she walked by. She found Evetta Niall and the two of them headed up to their dormitory.

Sirius laughed quietly, feeling somewhat elated over having pissed Tara off, as she had really become quite annoying over the past few weeks. Savannah giggled.

"You're laughing," she murmured.

"So are you."

"Only because you were."

Sirius grinned slightly and kissed her again; he felt a clap on his shoulder as James walked by, saying, "Hope to see you upstairs… eventually."

Savannah giggled again.

"Annie, stop giggling and kiss me," Sirius murmured, running one hand down her side to her waist.

She stopped giggling abruptly and kissed him, per his instructions. Then she said, "So… Hogsmeade tomorrow…"

"Oh, yeah," Sirius said at once. "You're coming with me."

Savannah grinned and kissed him again.

-

"Hahaha!" James crowed triumphantly when Sirius entered their dormitory nearly an hour later.

"Haha what?" Sirius demanded, though he knew exactly what James was talking about.

"You totally got with Savannah! Ha, and there you were saying you _weren't ready for her_… weren't ready for her, my ass!"

Remus was grinning, too. "She's quite pretty," he observed fairly. Then he turned to James. "Though I must say I don't understand why you're so happy about Padfoot going out with your ex-girlfriend."

James shrugged. "Well… I don't know…" Suddenly he smiled slyly and plopped down on Peter's bed. "Actually, if you must know, here's my thinking: if Annie goes out with Sirius, she'll hear all the time about how fabulously awesome _I_ am, and because she and Lily are best friends or whatever, Lily will hear all about it, too!"

Sirius burst out laughing despite himself; he was in a very good mood. "That's some plan, Prongs," he admitted. "Very clever… I'm impressed."

James lowered his eyelids modestly. "Why, thank you."

"Mm," Peter grunted, leaving the bathroom and heading across the dormitory toward them.

"Wormtail!" James said at once. "We must comfort you!"

"Sit down and have some chocolate," Remus offered, reaching for one of the bars on top of his dresser.

"In all honesty, you'd only been going out for twelve days," Sirius pointed out.

Peter sat down on his bed next to James and took the chocolate Remus tossed him. "I know," he said to Sirius resignedly. "It's just… I _really_ liked her!"

"We know, we know," James said consolingly. "But just think! Now we can set you up with someone your own age!"

Peter rolled his eyes. "I guess."

Sirius sank down on James's bed opposite him.

"But you," Peter said. "What's the deal with Savannah? You sure got over Claire in a hurry, didn't you?"

Sirius shrugged, and smiled. "I guess… well, it _has_ been more than a week, and besides, I rebound quickly."

James nodded. "You certainly do."

As he lay in bed later, not yet tired enough to sleep, Sirius smiled to himself. Claire Delacour was a thing of the past, though he still ached slightly when he thought about how compatible they were. Linnet Blakely was a _fling_ of the past, something that he would likely not tell Peter about until, say, this time next year.

Savannah Baron was the present. Sirius wasn't sure how long his relationship with her would last, but he did know that she was pretty, and funny, and a very good Quidditch player. Being with Savannah made Sirius feel confident in his ability to get the girls he wanted when he wanted them.

After all, apart from his friends, that was all his life really came down to.

Sort of depressing, isn't it?

No, not really.

---

Yay! I got… (wait for it)… **ELEVEN REVIEWS!** Though I do realize that other people get way, way more…

But oh well; I am happy anyway!

Reviewers:

tulips car – thank you!

lavizsla – thank you!

SeaNymph – thank you!

The Cotton Candy Kisses – thanks!

Potpoury – thank you! Yeah, my mom would probably do that, too, except she speaks to me and my siblings in French all the time anyway.

kikialiena – thanks! Haha, I'm glad you're addicted…

dixio – thank you! Yeah, at the end I'm going to have a big epilogue thing that says what happens to everyone. It'll probably be all of their reactions to finding out Sirius supposedly murdered all those people, or something. They can have conflicting trains of thought and stuff. It'll be quaint.

je suis une pizza – thanks; I'm glad you decided it was okay after all! Well, this chapter has the Linnet thing, but it didn't make sense for it to become a long-term intrigue because Sirius and Linnet are so different. And actually, neither of the new relationships in this chapter refers to the stuff in the summary; that's all coming _later_…

lilyskywalker3 – thanks… heh, I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you _too_ much!

Padfootz-luvr – thanks! Yeah, maybe it could still be T, but whatever. Hope I quenched your thirst for soap opera melodrama!

A/N: Well, I hope nobody's _too_ annoyed over the thing with Claire ending… really, it had to happen sooner or later. And Linnet Blakely… well, I wanted to stick that in, and a bunch of reviewers said it was a good idea, so I figured I'd do it. FYI, the whole intrigue with Savannah will be somewhat temporary, as I still stand by the summary of a "summer fling" and "the one girl he never expected." So keep your eyes out for new chapters!

**Please review...**

Love, Simone


	6. And Through June

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **M, fosho.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

A/N: Yeah… I know it's been, like, two months. But now 'tis Thanksgiving Break and I've an afternoon free, so I figured I'd catch up on this story! The last month-plus has been rather entertaining and full of excitement, so I didn't really have a need or a desire to write more. That's the way it is with me: if I have something better to do than write fanfiction on a Friday or Saturday night, I do it. So, yeah, expect the next update… I dunno, Winter Break?

By the way, am I the only one who freakin LOVED HP4? I thought it was an awesome supplement to the book and I must admit that I am in love with just about every male character. Especially Cedric… JEEZE, did he _have_ to die?

Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Six

_And Through June_

Sirius awoke on Sunday morning feeling rather elated, though at first he didn't quite remember why.

_Oh, yes! Annie!_ he recalled with a slight grin, sitting up and stretching lazily. His predicament was drifting pleasantly back to him: Hogsmeade trip after breakfast… Savannah Baron set to accompany him… oh, the day's prospects were looking affable!

After a leisurely shower, Sirius returned to the dormitory to find Peter, who was apparently still depressed over Linnet Blakely, steadfastly refusing to get out of bed.

"C'mon, Wormtail!" James prodded for the fifth time. "Just get up! She's not _worth_ it!" He rolled his eyes and looked at Remus, shaking his head in brisk pity. "_Honestly…_"

"I don't want to go down there!" Peter shot back, picking up his pillow and covering his head with it so that his voice grew muffled.

"Why don't you take a shower, mate?" Remus suggested from across the room, where he was pulling on a T-shirt.

"Yes, I've found showers to be quite helpful in the past," Sirius piped up, rummaging through his dresser for a shirt of his own.

"Listen, can you just _leave _me_ alone_!" Peter groaned, his voice still muted by the pillow.

"Sorry, I think I missed that," James replied pleasantly, yanking back the covers to reveal Peter's pajama-clad form.

"_Prongs!_" Peter moaned, peering out from beneath the pillow.

"Get up!" James snapped cheerfully, grabbing Peter's arms and attempting to yank him into a sitting position. He glanced over his left shoulder at Remus and Sirius. "Hey, help me out, will you?"

Sirius grinned; he pulled his shirt all the way over his head and then strode across the room with Remus. Together, they lifted the protesting Peter up and dragged him to the bathroom. "Get in the shower! NOW!" James ordered.

Peter groaned. "Ugh! Fine; just get out of here already!"

Smiling with satisfaction, James, Remus and Sirius left the room and listened intently for the shower to start running. Once that was assured, they turned around and crossed the room to sit on their beds.

"Poor bloke," James observed. "I don't understand _how_ he can get so worked up over _Linnet Blakely_. I mean… she's _Linnet_ effing _Blakely_!"

Remus smiled. "We should find him a new girl, Prongs. Maybe while Sirius's off with Annie today we could do some scouting."

Sirius barked out a laugh, quickly brushing aside slight pangs of inner guilt.

James laughed, too. "Sounds like a plan… though I was actually considering stalking Lily today, but – hey – your idea is good, too!"

Sirius barked out a laugh again (he couldn't help it; the prospect of spending the afternoon with Savannah was euphoric) while Remus rolled his eyes. "Prongs, dear, stalking Lily is not going to get her to go out with you any sooner."

James shrugged. "I know! It's just…" He grasped around for the right words. "Just… ugh, I like her _so_ much! And now Padfoot is with Annie, so there's nothing I can do to distract myself!"

Remus chuckled slightly. "_Distract yourself_… Prongs, you are a sorry, sorry soul."

"Amen to that, mate," Sirius added, lying back on his bed to stare at the red velvet canopy overhead.

Peter emerged from the bathroom, hair sitting in damp clumps and fleecy towel clamped tightly around his waist.

"Ah! Feeling better, Wormtail?" James asked briskly.

Peter nodded. "I am, actually… showers _do_ help; you weren't kidding, Padfoot!"

Sirius nodded sagely. "Ohhhh, showers," he sighed.

-

Down in the Great Hall, Sirius was disappointed not to see Savannah already eating breakfast. He did, however, run into Claire Delacour, who was walking down the marble staircase with two of her girlfriends and gave him a slight wink and half-smile despite herself as they crossed paths (Sirius found himself grinning back, perhaps a bit too broadly). Before sitting down he also caught sight of Linnet Blakely over at the Ravenclaw table, but felt no need to talk to her; that could only end awkwardly.

Soon after a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and cream-of-wheat, Sirius headed back up to the dormitory with Remus, James, and Peter; pulled off his robes in favor of faded jeans and a black polo; and marched down to the foyer, where a large cluster of students planning to visit Hogsmeade was already assembled.

"So, we can meet for lunch at the Three Broomsticks around one, yeah?" Peter suggested halfheartedly.

"I'm down." James scanned the crowd briefly for Lily, and, not finding her, turned to Sirius. "What about you, Padfoot? Annie's welcome to come to lunch as well, so long as Lily comes along, too…"

Sirius gave him a slight grin. "I'll see what I can do."

He felt a hand on his elbow and turned around; Savannah Baron was standing there, looking very pretty in a denim skirt and modest collared white shirt, her long blond hair falling lightly down her back and over her shoulders in what was unmistakably a windswept (or perhaps blow-dried) manner. She had clipped all but a few wispy strands of her long bangs back with several brown bobby pins.

"Hey!" she said cheerfully.

Sirius grinned at her. "Hey." He leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. When he pulled back, Savannah grinned at him and wrinkled her nose. Sirius raised one eyebrow at her; she giggled and took his hand confidently. As they made their way out of the foyer and onto the grounds, James waved goodbye over the heads of the milling crowd.

"So… what do you want to do?" Savannah asked Sirius cheerfully.

He shrugged. "Honestly? I think we should go find some deserted alleyway and have a good snog."

Savannah laughed, not too uncomfortably. "Well… maybe later. Tell you what, why don't we go for a spot of tea or something, yeah?"

Sirius shrugged again. "Hey, I'm just saying…"

Savannah grinned. "We've got_ all afternoon_, Sirius; we'll have _plenty_ of time to do _plenty_ of things."

Turning, he gave her a slow smile. "Mmm… that we do…"

He wasn't sure why he was being so overly suggestive. Thinking about it, Sirius realized that he wasn't in the mood for casual flirting today. What he really wanted was to bloody _get_ with Savannah Baron again, to a greater extent than he had the night before. Casually observing his thoughts and feelings, Sirius realized that he was being the stereotype of a horny teenage boy, but he wasn't perturbed. If anything, the realization simply made him chuckle.

As they strode hand-in-hand down the main thoroughfare of Hogsmeade, glancing into the shop windows and talking nonchalantly about Quidditch, Sirius caught sight of Claire Delacour and Hector Zabini, who were standing with a group of their friends outside Honeydukes and discussing rendezvous times for lunch. As Sirius watched, Claire took Zabini's hand and the two of them headed into the shop while the rest of the group splintered off into pairs and trios.

Oh, Claire…

Sirius reminded himself that he was over her, and that he no longer could gain anything from lusting after her, but still...

He glanced back at Savannah, who was pointing and chuckling at a banner in the window of the post office which read "International Owl Post FREE!" in large sparkling letters; a tiny subheading added "except from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM, Mondays through Sundays."

"Advertising's so manipulative, isn't it?" she observed, running her fingers through her hair so as to flip it over one shoulder and turning to smile at him.

Sirius nodded. "Mmm."

He liked Savannah, but there was something missing from his relationship with her. For those brief weeks with Claire, Sirius had felt something he had never experienced before: caring about a person for _more _than their awesome looks and pleasant personality and sexy French-speaking abilities. He had liked Claire for her manipulative habits and her inadvertent disloyalty to Zabini and the fact that they had always been blatantly, forcefully honest with one another. He had liked – or, dare he say it, _loved_ – everything about Claire Delacour, right down to the painful fact that chances were slim to none they could ever be together in the long run.

Sirius knew that the next time he found a girl like Claire Delacour, he was going to make absolutely certain that they got married, made lots of adorable children, and disposed of all inconvenient boyfriends in the quickest way possible.

Now that he thought about it, Sirius realized that he didn't believe in soul mates. Or rather, he didn't believe that there was a perfect woman out there for _him_. Perhaps James and Lily were meant to be together, sure, but he himself would be content with any girl who made him feel the same way he had felt around Claire Delacour.

_Actually_, he realized, now thinking in retrospect_, the thing with Claire could have changed eventually_. _After a while longer we could have gotten sick of one another and just bitched all the live-long day about stupid shit._

Maybe it was for the best that his relationship with Claire had ended, then. He had gotten a taste of what he sought in life: a girl who was sharp and pretty and _knew_ it; a girl who strove to attain her goals, however morally debased they turned out to be; a girl who was always completely frank with him; and all of those other personality traits that had made him click so well with Claire Delacour.

Sirius smiled inwardly. One of the best things about Claire had been the fact that she was a slut but didn't give a crap. For some reason, girls who knew they were attractive and weren't afraid to act the part just _turned him on_.

Take Gina Davies, for a counter-example. Every time they slept together, she would start grumbling about how she had such a fat stomach or how ugly her thighs looked, and he would have to reassure her that no, actually, she was fucking _gorgeous_.

Sirius remembered that first time they had gotten together in the changing room down at the Quidditch pitch toward the beginning of last year. He'd been flirting with Gina during practice for nearly two weeks, despite the fact that he was dating one of her roommates. Finally the team captain had grown fed up with them and had insisted that they stay behind to straighten out the lockers after the team had finished washing up. When they were finished Sirius had suggested that they take showers, and so they climbed into adjacent stalls, drawing the curtains but talking over the high white marble barrier between them.

Sirius had eventually threatened that he was going to come into her stall if she didn't stop teasing him. Then Gina had laughed and said something along the lines of, "Ha! And won't Clarabel" (that was the name of her roommate with whom Sirius had been romantically involved for about two weeks now) "be pleased by that!"

Sirius had barked a laugh back at her, and, knowing Gina had been asking for this all week, and not wanting to let the opportunity pass them by, stepped out of his shower, yanking the curtain of hers back just enough to stick his head in.

"Hello," he had said pleasantly, looking Gina up and down through the steam.

Gina had shrieked. "What the _fuck, _Sirius!" She'd tried to cover herself with her hands, but then started laughing and couldn't stop. Sirius laughed, too, and then he stepped straight into Gina's stall and kissed her smack on the lips, holding her against the cool tile wall.

The rest was history.

But Gina was nothing like Claire. Gina was fun, Gina was a bit of a slut when it came to Sirius, but she was not Claire.

And Savannah was not like Claire. Savannah was sweet and entertaining and quite pretty, but she was also somewhat shy and unconfident.

Linnet Blakely was nothing at _all_ like Claire, but Sirius didn't really consider what they had had to be an actual relationship.

Claire was the closest Sirius had come to finding a girl he could truly worship and dedicate himself to. But Claire was still lacking, because she was, for all purposes, out of reach.

Also, Sirius wasn't ready to settle down with a girl just yet; he loved playing the field.

That was why he had been so excited over this date with Savannah, he realized: this was his element, treating a new girlfriend to a good time and enjoying a subsequent month or so in which she would lavish attention on him until he grew tired and moved on.

But the fact that he suddenly understood, with every part of his being, what he really wanted in a girl made Sirius feel strangely content. He felt impervious to hurt, even more so than he always had before; he felt as if his life suddenly had a purpose: to enjoy himself, and at some point find a girl who made him feel the same way Claire had.

And he, Sirius Black, was going to find someone else like that.

Just not yet.

-

"Sirius, what are your faults?" Savannah asked him as they lay side-by-side on the lakeshore, having taken off after a somewhat awkward lunch with James, Remus and Peter in search of a more secluded locale.

"Mmm…" Sirius murmured. He turned toward her and ran his fingers down her neck, brushing her long hair away on the side nearest him. "Well, I do have _one_ fault: I'm really a vampire." He leaned forward and bit her gently.

Savannah giggled. "That's pretty appalling."

Sirius nodded. He trailed kisses up her throat to her lips, and then said, "And you? Any major flaws _I_ should be aware of?"

Savannah grinned. "Mmm… nah; I'm flawless."

Sirius barked out a laugh. He considered all the possible responses she could have given to this question, and felt that most of the girls he had ever been with would have given the same genial, sarcastic answer.

Claire wouldn't have. She would have been honest and said something about manipulating everyone or letting him manipulate her too much or something.

Gina would have complained about her gut, just to hear him say, "No, no! Your stomach is _fine. _It's _perfect_. Shut up, Gina; _you_ are perfect."

Who cared what Linnet would have said.

Sirius decided that he didn't like the sarcastic response to the question as much as the honest one. Something about flagrant honesty appealed to him.

Savannah was trailing her long, slender fingers over his face and through his hair. It felt quite good; Sirius gave her a half-smile. Then he leaned forward, kissed her, pushed her back onto the grassy lakeshore, and rolled on top of her. Savannah wasn't half bad of a kisser; Sirius trailed his tongue over her lips and then into her mouth, and she yielded at once, running a hand around to the back of his neck and trailing the other one down his spine so that he shivered slightly with pleasure.

Laughing slightly, Sirius pulled back to look at her. "Hi," he murmured.

"Hi," Savannah whispered back. As always, Sirius was struck by the sharp contrast of her dark eyes next to the flaxen and gold of her hair.

"Is your hair naturally this color?" he asked, bringing up a hand to inspect a silky clump of it.

Savannah nodded. "Yeah… it sort of bothers me sometimes, you know, the dark-eyes-light-hair thing."

Sirius frowned. "Why?" he demanded, trying to sound good-natured but in truth wondering if she'd fucking lost her mind. _It's, like, the best combination ever,_ he thought to himself.

Savannah shrugged. "Well… it _is_ sort of unusual, isn't it?"

Sirius continued to frown. _Was she just pulling one of those oh-I-hate-my-body-heh-heh-do-compliment-me_ _schemes_? "Yeah, unusual and _awesome_."

To his surprise, Savannah suddenly giggled. "Actually, yeah; I know. I just don't like to sound conceited so I usually just… I dunno."

Sirius raised his eyebrows at her for a moment and then laughed. "Oh really? Yeah, I was going to say…"

Savannah laughed again. "You have good coloring, too," she added. "Dark hair, light eyes… I swear, we contrast people are so fortunate!"

Now Sirius grinned. "This is true."

"But it can look good when people match up, too," Savannah added. "I mean… well, Amos is a cutie, and _he's _got the brown hair-brown eyes thing going on."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, Amos is sooooo hot."

Savannah giggled. "And Gina, too… she's pretty, and _she_ has normal coloring… not like us; we're freaks."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "This, too, is true." He leaned down and kissed her again; Savannah arched up against him and slid her hands along his back. He noticed that she made adorable sounds sometimes in the fit of passion, high-pitched moans of pleasure. It was rather arousing.

"Jeeze, Annie, why are you so hot?" he demanded when they had pulled apart again.

Savannah laughed. "Why are _you_ so hot?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well… genetics had something to do with it, I think."

Savannah kept laughing. "Yeah… hey, have you ever met my sister?"

Sirius shook his head. "Why? Is she as hot as you?"

Savannah smiled complacently. "Of course not. But she's a hottie, all the same… so I hear, anyway."

She reached for her bag, which had been discarded to the side prior to their sitting down. "That's her," she added, handing Sirius a wallet-sized photograph of two girls sitting at an outdoor café.

The girl on the left was Savannah; the girl on the right was evidently her sister. Both had golden-blond hair, but the sister's eyes were a pretty golden-green and her hair lay in slight waves, contrasting sharply with Savannah's long, straight ponytail. The sister's nose was different from Savannah's as well; while Savannah's was straight and almost sharp, her sister's was small and ski sloped. The two girls kept looking at one another and giggling.

"Mm… I dunno, Annie; she's pretty hot," Sirius admitted, holding the picture next to Savannah's face and letting his eyes dart from one to the other.

Savannah laughed. "Thanks… I haven't seen her since Easter Break."

"How old is she?"

Savannah shrugged. "Like, twenty-two or something? She's five years older than I am..."

Sirius couldn't help himself from asking, "And you get along?"

Savannah put on an exaggeratedly taken aback expression. "Yes, of course." The she laughed yet again. "Well… usually. But yes, we're quite close. She's not magical, you know… my dad's the magical one in the family, and I seem to have gotten it, too, but we were awfully sad when I got the letter from Hogwarts and it turned out we wouldn't be attending the same school."

Sirius nodded slightly, feeling indifferently distant from this world of close familial relationships. "What's her name?" he asked, glancing at the picture again.

"Annette."

Sirius barked out an ironic laugh. "So what, do you both go by 'Annie?'"

Savannah smiled. "Everyone asks me that. And nah; at home I'm Sav and she's Nettie. Only people here call me Annie; it's quite odd, actually."

Sirius grinned. "Sav… I like that better. And how about 'Savvy?' I think that'd be an appropriate nickname, don't you agree?"

Savannah laughed. "Please don't; if you lot called me anything but Annie I'd experience severe emotional anguish."

"So be it, Annie," Sirius replied graciously. Then he kissed her again.

-

Later on, after having glanced at his watch and deciding that they ought to spend some time up in his dormitory before James, Remus and Peter came back from Hogsmeade, Sirius and Savannah lay on his four-poster bed, examining the embroidered cloth canopy overhead.

"How long have you liked me for, Sirius?" Savannah asked.

Sirius didn't miss a beat. "Oh, ages. I mean, well, when you were going out with James I didn't really think I should act on it, and the last few months have been pretty busy, but… probably, on some level or another, since about fourth year."

Savannah grinned. "Yeah, I'd say about the same."

Sirius turned to smile at her. Actually, he'd sort of made all of that up. Well, perhaps not _entirely_ – Savannah had always been pretty, especially since she'd started putting slight effort into her appearance sometime during fourth or fifth year, and she'd always intrigued him to a certain extent, but he hadn't actually wanted to get with her until a few days ago.

But there was no reason to tell Savannah that; there was no reason to tell any girl that. The only girl with whom Sirius had ever been completely honest about his feelings was Claire, and that had only been because he had been fucking _crazy _about her.

Oh, Claire…

Sirius regularly told his romantic interests that he had liked them for longer than he had. There was something anti-quixotic about proclaiming, "Well, I decided I wanted to get with you on Saturday, and then we hooked up and decided to go out on Sunday… so yeah, I reckon it's been about four days." It was infinitely better to stretch the truth and say, "Oh, I've always thought you were gorgeous and this weekend I finally decided to _do_ something about it."

So he really was something of a hypocrite, Sirius realized. He found scathing honesty appealing but failed to practice it himself. But ah well; he was still a young, confused adolescent; he reckoned he could get away with it.

Savannah had leaned forward and kissed his neck. Now she was slowly trailing her tongue up toward his jaw line. Sirius inclined his head and kissed her passionately. He ran both hands up under her shirt and then trailed one down, lightly, over her denim skirt. Savannah made another one of those high-pitched noises of content and Sirius couldn't stop himself; he grabbed her and pulled her closer to him so that they were pressed together beneath the embroidered canopy.

Then he rolled over, pinning her to the bed. He pushed up her shirt and traced his fingers over her pale stomach; he pushed it still higher and ran his index finger along the contours of her ribs until Savannah said, grinning slightly, "Why don't I just take it off, yeah?"

She peeled off her collared white shirt and tossed it onto the floor; Sirius looked her up and down. Then he shook his hair out of his eyes, grinned at her, and kissed her on the lips once again.

Soon Savannah had her hands up under his polo, and then it, too, had been discarded. He rolled off of her slightly so that they were lying on their sides, face-to-face. Then Sirius trailed kisses down her neck until he reached her collar bone, where he sucked at her pale skin for a few moments until, smiling in satisfaction, he said, "That'll leave a mark."

Savannah laughed gently. "Way to kill the number of shirts I can wear this week without looking like a complete whore."

Sirius grinned roguishly at her. "I try."

Savannah didn't answer; she winked at him and leaned into his neck. Sirius laughed despite himself and made a show of trying to hold her away, but soon gave up and let Savannah suck and nibble at his skin without protest.

Eventually, she rolled back and said smugly, "That'll leave an even _bigger_ mark."

Sirius shrugged. "Ah well; I always _was_ a fan of turtlenecks."

Savannah giggled. They had just leaned in and were kissing each other again when the dormitory door opened with a very audible creak. Sirius and Savannah both turned toward the sound, Savannah scooting closer behind Sirius.

A very amused looking James was standing in front of Remus and Peter. "Why hello, you two! Long time, no see!"

Remus opened his mouth, but then coughed rather sharply into his hand, evidently trying to conceal laughter.

"We were just going," Peter supplemented, grabbing Remus's arm and kicking James in the back of the leg to get him to stop looking smugly at Sirius and Savannah.

The three of them ducked out of the door and shut it with a resounding slam.

Sirius and Savannah burst out laughing.

"Well, that was substantially awkward," Sirius observed, even though he hadn't been bothered at all.

"I'll say," Savannah agreed, blushing slightly. "Um… maybe we should get up now, yeah?"

Sirius shrugged. He made a great show of glancing at the clock on James's bureau. Then he said, "Yeah, I reckon so…"

He straightened Savannah's mused hair idly as she pulled her shirt back on – from past experience, he knew that girls seemed to like that. Then he pulled his own shirt on, gave Savannah a last passionate kiss, and stood up, helping her to her feet as he did so.

"This was fun," Savannah observed casually, taking Sirius's hand as they made their way out of the room. She was grinning.

"Yeah, it was," Sirius agreed, and he was, for once, being honest. He might not have felt the same way about Savannah as he had felt about Claire, but he did highly enjoy making out with and spending time with her, and that was what mattered.

For the moment, anyway.

-

"So how was your date, Padfoot?" Peter asked that evening. He grinned naughtily. "I mean, the part we saw seemed to be going quite well, but…"

James and Remus chuckled appreciatively. "Yeah, I'll say," Remus amended.

"She _does_ have quite a nice body, I'll give you that," James added.

Remus rolled his eyes at James. "I _still_ can't understand how you don't feel incredibly awkward walking in on your best friend snogging your ex."

James shrugged. "Well… I dunno, I guess it is _sort _of awkward, but… hey, I'm counting on this to get with Lily, remember?"

Sirius shook his head in pity. "Prongs, you're my best mate but sometimes talking to you just _depresses_ me. Have I ever told you that?"

James grinned. "Yeah, well… yeah. So tell us about Annie, then, why don't you?"

Sirius shrugged. "Oh, I dunno… we certainly had fun. I like hanging out with her. And I'm realizing more than ever how hot she is."

Remus frowned, taken aback. "You never realized that?" he demanded incredulously.

Sirius shrugged again. "Well… I always knew she was pretty, but… just, there are _lots_ of pretty girls at Hogwarts. Hell, _most _girls are pretty. And plenty of them are a mite more noticeable than Annie, if you get my drift."

Peter nodded his understanding. "Yeah, most girls _are_ pretty. And hey, why are there so many more good-looking girls than there are good-looking boys? I mean, what's up with that?"

Remus grinned. "Who knows, but I'm not complaining."

James chuckled. "Oh, come now, you both know that's not true…"

"Sure it is," interrupted Peter briskly.

Sirius barked out a laugh. He wasn't sure which side of the argument to take; each promised many utilizable jokes and sarcastic comments. Eventually he pronounced seriously, "Well, I don't know about you, Prongs, but I personally find myself attracted to loads of girls but a very scant number of boys."

"And the only explanation for that is that all boys are ugly?" James replied, grinning, while Peter laughed, raised his eyebrows and repeated,

"A _scant_ number?"

Sirius blew Peter a kiss. "Oh, you know it, Wormtail."

Later on, as he lay in bed trying to fall asleep, Sirius thought about Savannah yet again. She was very pretty, as was that older sister of hers, but neither was brazen about it. Sirius wondered dully why girls like Claire Delacour seemed to flaunt their beauty openly, while others like Savannah Baron did not.

Oh, but Savannah did, he realized. She dressed well and wore light makeup and put a uniform effort into her appearance. So why was it that she had never stood out to the extent Claire did?

It was, Sirius decided, because Savannah knew she was pretty but didn't know she was hot. And there was a difference: Claire Delacour was hot; Gina Davies was hot (when she was naked, anyway). Savannah Baron was pretty. Lily Evans was pretty. Sirius wasn't sure wherein the difference lay, but he felt that it had something to do with how much attention the girl in question received from the opposite sex. The girls who knew, not only that they were pretty, but that everyone else thought so, too, were the hot ones. People could be pretty and not realize it, but to be hot one had to be aware.

Oh, he was so philosophical.

-

The next few weeks proved to be quite entertaining. At breakfast on Monday Sirius intentionally folded his starched collar to display the large hickey Savannah had left him; when she saw him in the hallway on the way down to breakfast she promptly burst out laughing.

"Sirius," she gasped, coming close and laying a cool palm on his cheek to push his head to the side in mock punishment, and also so as to examine his neck more closely, "cover yourself!" She flipped up his collar for him.

Sirius laughed easily and slung his arm around Savannah's shoulders; she promptly wrapped her own around his waist and whispered in mock seriousness, "I'll show you mine later, in case you wanted to see the products of your handiwork."

Sirius barked out another laugh. "Well, you _could_ just show me now," he replied, turning to Savannah and pulling her sweater away from her neck so as to peer down at her collarbone rather blatantly.

"_Sirius_!" Savannah shrieked, laughing again.

"Ew, Padfoot, what the hell _is_ that?" demanded James, yanking Sirius's collar back down and gawking at his neck exaggeratedly.

Savannah was still laughing. "Put it back up, put it back up!"

James grinned. "No, I'd rather the whole world be as amused as I am." He examined Savannah's neck. "Hmm. You seem to have hidden yours fairly well."

Sirius chuckled. "Nah, it's lower, mate."

"_Sirius_!" Savannah shrieked again, boxing him gently with one hand; he grinned at her and gave her a swift peck on the forehead.

Glancing over her golden-blond hair to wink at James, who was laughing, Sirius saw Tara Nevan and Evetta Niall striding toward breakfast. Both were glancing at him and Savannah surreptitiously; Tara had a remarkably bitter expression on her finely-featured face. Sirius grinned, let his gray eyes travel back down to meet Savannah's dark brown ones, and kissed her smack on the lips.

Turning to see what Sirius had been looking at, James smiled pleasantly. "Good morning, Tara!" he called.

"'Morning, Tara!" Sirius added, feeling very elated.

Savannah settled into the crook of Sirius's arm as they walked and gave Tara and Evetta a friendly nod.

Tara gave a rather forced smile. "Hey," she said.

Once Tara was out of earshot, Savannah murmured, "What's up with her?"

Sirius shrugged, and then grinned at her. "Oh, she's just madly in love with me. It's nothing; don't let it bother you."

Savannah smiled somewhat smugly. "I see, I see."

Sirius barked out a laugh and kissed her again.

-

Savannah turned out to be chaster than Sirius had initially anticipated. Two weeks after their first date, alone in his dormitory with her while James, Remus and Peter made themselves scarce, Sirius brought up the subject for about the tenth time.

"Annie, our kids would be _so_ hot." They would be, too, Sirius thought to himself. They'd have contrasting coloration just like we do.

Savannah laughed. "Well, of course!"

Sirius smiled and ran his hand across her stomach. "I think we should make a baby. What say you?"

Savannah giggled. "Maybe someday. Not now."

"Well, how about just having sex, then?" Sirius asked, feeling the need to be blatant.

Savannah shrugged. "Again, maybe someday. Not now."

He frowned. "Why not?" He ran his hands through her hair and down her uncovered stomach to her skirt, which was still on, albeit extremely rumpled.

"Well, I always imagined I'd wait until I got married," Savannah replied in a sing-song voice. She frowned. "Or at least engaged."

Sirius raised one eyebrow at her. "And why is that?"

Savannah shrugged. "I don't know… I just always figured I would. Make it more special, you know?"

Sirius lowered his first eyebrow and raised the other one in turn. "Oh, it can be plenty special anyway."

Savannah tilted her head first to one side, then to the other. "I dunno… You aren't a virgin, are you, Sirius?"

He barked out a laugh. "No, I'm not."

She nodded. "Figured… and who have you done it with?"

He shrugged. "You want me to _list _them?"

Savannah giggled again. "No, don't. Just… how old were you the first time?"

He made a show of pretending to think. "Er… fourteen."

Savannah let out a bemused gasp. Then she collected herself and said in a frank tone of voice, "Well, Sirius, sorry, but I'm not down for having sex. Not yet, anyway."

Sirius didn't give up yet; he flopped down next to her so that they were looking at one another. "And what's your definition of sex?"

Savannah shrugged. "What's _yours_?"

Sirius hadn't really given it a thought before now. He shrugged, too. "Whatever." He decided to change the subject. "How far have you gone with a guy?"

Savannah squinted slightly. "Um… third. With James."

Sirius gave an exaggerated wince. "Ooh, my best friend… Well, _this_ isn't awkward."

Savannah giggled. "It doesn't have to be."

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "So what are you up for tonight?" he asked pleasantly, striving to move on and hoping vaguely to move beyond second base, where they had been affably lodged since that first date.

Savannah shrugged, and then rolled completely onto her back to study the embroidered canopy. "Let's wait until it's been… say, a _month_ before we do anything more. I want to be sure we're still together and… all of that."

Sirius exhaled audibly and rolled back on top of her, then propped himself up on his arms so that they were looking into each other's eyes. "Okay."

So they waited another two weeks. Then Sirius came up behind Savannah, slid his hand down her skirt, and whispered, "It's been a month."

The subsequent night's activities proved quite enjoyable.

Sirius never pushed Savannah for more, and he wasn't entirely sure why – he had pushed most of his other girlfriends until they gave in, one way or the other – but it probably had something to do with the fact that Sirius respected Savannah. He knew that they didn't have the most emotionally intimate of relationships – indeed, what they did have was really just based off of the fact that they both were good-looking and enjoyed hanging out and hooking up – but he respected her as a friend, as an athlete, and as a person.

Because that was all it really came down to: Savannah was a sweet, funny, clever, pretty girl with whom Sirius was perfectly content to be somewhat infatuated.

-

Soon it was June and term was coming to an end. Sirius was greatly enjoying Savannah Baron, though he knew that they were still somewhat emotionally unattached. Or at least, _he _was; while they had interesting conversations regarding their classmates and their plans for summer, Sirius knew that he would never, ever tell Savannah about his _real _problems. She talked about her family, sure, but Sirius simply listened apathetically and did not complain about his twisted domestic life.

Besides, though, this summer he would be returning to James's house; what was the point of lamenting over something already a year in the past?

They never fought. They were perpetually laughing and joking. But all in all, there was nothing between them but relaxed friendship and overactive hormones.

"You _will_ write to me, right?" Savannah demanded in a jokingly authoritative voice as she straddled Sirius one afternoon in his dormitory.

Exams were over, James was off in pursuit of Lily, and Remus and Peter had been considerate enough to find a location other than the dormitory in which to consort.

"Ew, no," Sirius replied sarcastically, running one hand down Savannah's arm to her waist and sliding the other one into the back pocket of her Capri shorts.

Savannah giggled. "Well, I'll write _you_ letters. And you'd damn well respond, too."

Sirius smiled at her serenely. "Yeah, yeah..."

Savannah grinned at him; she kissed him rather passionately on the lips and then pulled back, looking him in the eye. "I'm _serious_. I mean… well, are we staying together through the summer, or not?"

Sirius shrugged noncommittally. "I hadn't really thought about it."

Savannah nodded slightly. "Well… we're going to Italy come July, and I'm not sure what Annette and I have planned specifically, but… I mean, I'm down with staying committed, but…"

Sirius suddenly smiled despite himself. "No, no; have your fun in Italy. Believe me, Annie, I don't… I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but… I feel like our relationship is a lot more about two attractive people being socially compatible and snogging a lot than about, like, _deep_ stuff."

Ooh. That had been a bit unromantic and insensitive; he should have thought it through more. Sirius winced internally, hoping Savannah would react positively to his sudden voicing of what he had known since their first date.

To his relief, she nodded again, though she was no longer smiling. "I guess…"

Sirius brought his hands up to her shoulders. "I mean… well, I really like you, Annie, and I do enjoy spending time with you, and I think we get along great, but… just, it's all very _school_-ish, you know? Like, I think we're more friends than the type of people who would ever get married or something."

Now, Savannah smiled slightly. "Yeah, I see what you mean." Then she sighed. "So is that it, then, Sirius? Are we breaking up for the summer? Or forever?" She shook her head and laughed a bit. "I'm sooo confused."

Sirius gave her a gentle smile. Truth be told, he wasn't in the mood for corresponding with Savannah all through the summer. But truth also be told, he wouldn't say no to getting back together/hooking up with her next year. "I don't want to break up," he said slowly. "I just… I think we'll both have more exciting summers if we're unattached."

Savannah's face twitched into a ghost of a grin. "Probably." Then she wrapped her arms around him and exhaled audibly. "Wait, so we're off for the summer, but on again next year?"

Sirius trailed his fingers down her back and hooked them into the belt loops of her shorts. "Sure… I mean, if you're up for that."

Savannah nodded into his chest. "Okay," she said in a small voice.

Sirius was afraid that she was more saddened by this news than she let on. "But term's not over yet," he reminded her quickly. Savannah glanced up at him and he continued, "I'm not ready to give up on you _that_ quickly! Jesus, Annie, we have until the train gets into King's Cross to make the most of this!"

Savannah laughed. "That we do."

Sirius rolled over and pushed her beneath him; he kissed her passionately and ran his hands up and down her back. Savannah slid her hands through his hair and to the nape of his neck. Sirius trailed one finger down her shorts and between her legs, waiting for the high-pitched squeak he knew Savannah would be emitting any time now.

Savannah began to breathe more heavily, and Sirius smiled to himself. This was such a pleasant way to end the school year.

-

The commencement ceremony for the seventh years was the next day, and after a late brunch the students were due to be released for the summer. Sirius accompanied James up to the owlery, where he was sending a note to his mother informing her of the time to meet them at the King's Cross, and gazed down at the Hogwarts grounds. The ceremony for the seventh years was taking place on the lakeshore, complete with music and speeches from Dumbledore and the Head Boy and Girl. It was all rather quaint.

Later, walking alone down a corridor to meet up with his friends at brunch, Claire Delacour, who was, it turned out, intentionally walking alone, accosted him. "Sirius!" she called.

He turned around to look at her, surprised at this outburst. "Claire," he acknowledged with a nod.

She grinned at him fondly, and he grinned back reflexively.

"What's up?" he asked.

Claire shook her head, avoiding the question. "Come walk with me, Sirius," she instructed.

"Can do."

Together, they strode up a side corridor and then down a narrow flight of steps until they reached a secluded landing.

"So," Claire said brightly, turning to face him.

He had forgotten how beautiful she was, with her dark hair, violet eyes, high cheekbones and creamy, perfect skin. She had shed her commencement robes and was wearing a floral-printed rose-colored skirt and button-up short-sleeved silk-trimmed white shirt. She looked overwhelmingly mature, put-together, and beautiful.

"So," Sirius replied.

Claire grinned at him again. Then, without warning, she leaned forward and pecked him quickly on the lips.

"That's to say goodbye," she informed him.

Sirius let out a surprised, happy laugh. It was probably the happiest laugh he'd ever given in his life.

"But Claire, that was _nothing_," he began. "If you're really saying goodbye, say it like you _mean_ it."

Claire shook her head slightly in marvel, but Sirius didn't care; he leaned forward and kissed her passionately on the lips.

But it only lasted a few moments. Soon Claire pulled back and said, "Okay, Sirius. Okay."

They stared at one another for a few more moments. Then Claire said,

"Um… I'm really going to miss you. And I mean, I've missed you this last month, as well, but now it's like… forever."

Sirius nodded, feeling very solemn. "Yeah, I know," he murmured. He lifted a hand and began to trace the contours of Claire's perfect face with one finger, but she reached up her own hand and lifted his away.

Claire bit her lip, looking suddenly quite morose. "How's Savannah?" she asked calmly.

Sirius shrugged. "Eh, she's fine. We have fun, you know. It's nothing like what _we_ had, but… I dunno." He suddenly groaned, appreciating more than ever that Claire was the only girl to whom he was completely honest. "Claire, I love you," he muttered.

Claire stared at him for a few moments. Then they both burst out laughing at the awkwardness of it all.

"I mean… you know," Sirius continued, grinning sheepishly and tossing his hair out of his eyes, "I really do. And I always will, probably. But – oh, you'll appreciate this…"

Claire raised one eyebrow. "Do tell."

Sirius grinned at her slyly. "I've finally discovered what I'm looking for in a girl."

Claire snorted. "Have you now?"

Sirius nodded. "I have. And all I want is somehow who makes me feel the same way _you_ did." He grinned at her broadly. "So be flattered, Claire. Be very, very flattered."

She giggled. "Oh, I am." Then she sighed and came to join him by the landing window, leaning against the sill and staring out over the forest. "So, I'm marrying Hector. A few more years, I reckon, and then officially…"

Sirius joined her at the sill and gazed out over the forest also. "And is that what you want, Claire?" he asked.

She paused for a moment and then nodded. "It is. I mean…" She turned to look at him, her dark slant of bangs falling across her eyes. "I love you, too, Sirius. Know that. But… I'm marrying Hector. And I know I probably won't really see you ever again, so just know that…" She sighed and giggled. "Just know that this is quite cliché, but I'll really miss you and I'll never forget you and... just…" She shook her head a few times, searching for the right words. "…Thank you," she said at last.

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Wow, that was_ incredibly_ cliché; you were right. Thanks for what?"

Claire grinned. "Just… for everything. It's been fun. Even if we _did_ get caught."

Sirius laughed. "No problem. And thank _you, _Claire, for…" She smiled expectantly. "For… all of that stuff, too. And for showing me what I want in life."

He would have blushed, except that he never blushed, and besides, he was with Claire; being honest with Claire was not embarrassing.

Claire smiled sweetly, her dimples standing out as always, leaned forward, kissed him briefly, and said, "So… _au revoir_."

Sirius winked at her, and she laughed. "See you," he said.

They parted ways.

-

On the train ride to London, Sirius sat with James, Peter and Remus, contemplating the summer ahead.

"Well, you lot can come down to Devon and visit, like, whenever," James informed Peter and Remus pleasantly. "As soon as your parents let you, say, I want both of you coming and keeping us company."

"Heaven knows the trouble James and I will get ourselves into without your expert moral guidance," Sirius added.

Remus rolled his eyes. "We're going down to France for a bit… getting back, say, August? Or we might be _going_ in August; I don't remember."

"Yeah, I reckon we're traveling, too," Peter piped up. "My mum wrote me a letter with the details a while back… visiting cousins or something…"

"Well, get away at some point," James instructed them, waving the delineated constraints aside with his hand.

There was a knock on the frame of the open compartment door. "Any room?" Savannah asked pleasantly, shooting Sirius a dark-eyed glance over Remus's head.

He grinned at her. "Sure, sure, always room for one more…" He scooted along the bench to make room, and Savannah took a seat.

"Where's Lily?" James asked, trying to keep his voice casual.

Savannah rolled her eyes and laughed. "Oh, she refused to come over here with me… still back in our compartment, actually… I was going to head back in a bit and check on her…"

"Allow me," said James at once, leaping to his feet.

Savannah grabbed at his shirt sleeve. "Sit down, you imbecile; she's not going to go for you if you keep doing that!"

James sighed loudly. "And what would you have me do differently, Annie?"

She shrugged thoughtfully, and leaned back against Sirius's shoulder; he put his arm around her reflexively. "Well… I'd say, for one thing, don't go pissing her off right now. Wait until next year, at the very earliest."

James narrowed his eyes for a moment in contemplation and then said, "Fine. But you'd best..." He trailed off.

Savannah raised one eyebrow. "I'd best what?"

James sat down and stroked his chin in exaggerated pensiveness. "You'd best come visit us this summer," he said at last. "You and Lily, and the two of you can stay at my place in Devon… we can pick a week when my parents are out of town, even!"

To Sirius's approval, Savannah laughed comfortably. "That _does_ sound like fun, I'll admit, but I don't know how my vacation schedule's working out or what Lily's doing…" She turned to Sirius. "I'll keep you posted, yeah?"

He shrugged. "Sounds good." It did; having two girls share the Potter manor with him and James for a week could prove highly entertaining. Not that making it happen would necessarily work out, that was, but the idea had merit.

Savannah then smiled slightly. "It's a bit crowded in here, isn't it?" she murmured in Sirius's ear.

Sirius quirked one side of his mouth into a grin. "Just a bit… shall we bounce?"

Savannah nodded evenly. "Let's."

Remus met James's eyes and they both grinned; Peter laughed.

"Don't wait up," Sirius called over his shoulder as he and Savannah set off down the train to find a private compartment in which to say farewell.

-

At the station, students and parents milled about in search of one another. Sirius, holding Savannah's hand on one side and talking to James on the other, stepped through the gateway from Platform 9 ¾ back into the Muggle world.

"Yoo-hoo! Jamie! Sirius!"

Mr. and Mrs. Potter were standing to one side with Tara's parents and Tara, whose hazel-green eyes narrowed slightly as Sirius turned to give Savannah a final kiss goodbye.

"Have a nice summer," he said sincerely, brushing her long bangs out of her dark eyes and kissing her forehead.

"You too." She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

Sirius gave her a slight grin. "Snog lots of hot guys in Italy."

"I will… snog lots of hot house elves at James's house."

"I will."

Then Savannah was gone, hurrying over to her father and mother and her sister Annette, who looked just as pretty as she had in the photograph, and who gave Sirius a bemused grin and a short wave.

He grinned, too, and waved back.

"Come on, Padfoot," James quipped in exaggerated irritation, dragging him over to the Potters and Nevans.

"Ready to head home, you lot?" Mr. Potter asked pleasantly.

"Sure thing," James said vaguely, glancing over his shoulder to watch Lily, who had also found her parents and was now chatting with Savannah.

Sirius saw where he was looking and barked out a laugh. "Oh, come now, Prongs," he muttered as they followed James's parents toward the exit, "It's summer vacation! You don't need to worry about her until September!"

But he, too, glanced over his shoulder. Audrey Granada, who was standing next to two handsome young men who were surely her brothers, glanced at him antagonistically with her dark eyes for a moment before turning away; Brynn Merwyn offered him a friendly wave from amidst her gaggle of cousins and siblings; Linnet Blakely gave him a weak, awkward smile; and Gina Davies broke away from her parents and older brother, ran up to him, kissed him smack on the lips, and said, "Keep in touch, love!"

"Hey!" James yelped, trying to sound affronted.

"Oh, you too, dear! You'll be captain next year, I reckon!"

And after briefly kissing James as well, Gina ducked out and returned to her smiling family.

Tara rolled her eyes but then giggled. As they headed toward the Nevan's magically enhanced car, she turned to Sirius.

"So what's the deal with you and Savannah Baron now?" she asked innocently.

"We're off for the summer, now that you mention it," he replied evenly, shooting James a roll of the eyes over Tara's head.

Tara pulled her long light-brown hair back into a ponytail idly. "Sounds like fun."

Sirius shrugged and offered Tara a half-smile. "It could be."

* * *

**Reviews! **(and yeah, I know they have that weird "reply" thing now, but I don't wanna bother with it) 

lilyskywalker3 – yay, I'm so glad you liked it! Heh heh, the James/Lily stuff will start in year seven, I reckon. Or maybe this summer; I dunno…

SeaNymph – Mmm... yeah, I wish he were real, too. Heehee, I'm glad you like my name! My brother and sister and I all have crazy French names because our last name is quite standard and American so my dear French mum wanted us to not sound like foreigners… mind you, then we moved to the US so it all became sort of pointless, but whatever.

lavizsla – yes, I find them to be rather realistic as well. This story'll definitely have the James/Lily stuff, but not as the main storyline because – face it – the story's not _about_ them. I figure we'll get James/Lily action some time next year.

MaraudingChick – Haha, yeah, I should have made them fight.

dixio – Yeah, people totally hook up all the time… now that I'm a senior I'm truly starting to appreciate it (wink, wink). And yeah, I started this story because I didn't like that in most other stories Sirius finds some perfect chick all of the sudden and then (after a drawn out and often tedious struggle) conforms to her gentle will.

Lainia26 – Nah, Linnet can stay a shy loser. Are there really lots of other characters like her? _I _always thought that in the other stories some nobody girl (like Linnet) turns out to be Sirius's true love or whatever, and then she turns out to be kind and perfect and everything. But in this story, Linnet's just some innocent victim of Sirius's being bored. And she was pretty much just a one-chapter thing. And I'm glad you aren't that into her because I'm not, either.

Scarlet – why, thank you!

Padfootz-luvr – haha, glad you like Savannah. I totally have a friend like her who got with a guy very much like my portrayal of Sirius and now he's in college but they still hook up whenever he comes back to visit… it's quite sad, actually; I keep telling her she should move on and stop letting him fucking _use_ her. Heh, but ANYWAY, yeah, I'm flattered by your comments on my OC descriptions! I love inventing characters; it's wicked fun.

The Cotton Candy Kisses – thanks!

indiecookiedough – thanks!

tulips car – yes, yes; all I can tell you is to stay tuned!

Potpoury – Thanks! Yeah, I thought the name was cool, too… it came to me during one of my OC-name brainstorms when I was bored during econ.

**A/N:** Thanks to everybody who's gotten this far! I love writing this story and I promise I won't give up on it, so please don't fret if updates take a while. Also, (did I say this before?) I'm a freakin' review WHORE! Reviews make my day, and I LOVE responding to them, so if you write something long and opinionated and fun I'll most certainly respond and write something back to you. Soooo…

…**PLEASE REVIEW!**

Kisses,

Simone


	7. Summer Abounds

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **M :D

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

A/N: Long time, no see, everyone! I know I haven't updated since last year, but I was busy with school and the like, and then my computer got all messed up and I didn't have internet and couldn't access my files. It sucked. But _now_ it's summer vacation and all my friends are gone, so I figure I might as well continue on the story! See, I _told_ you I wouldn't abandon it!

Read on, my children, and grow…

* * *

Chapter Seven

_Summer Abounds_

Sirius awoke with a start. He had been having a good dream – something about chocolate and flying and… yes, Claire Delacour and her Veela sister-in-law had been in it, too – and felt exceedingly well-rested. His eyes opened onto the taut, airy blue canopy of his bed. Bits of sunlight were streaming around the edges of the heavy window drapes, and he could hear a cow lowing somewhere out in the fields.

_Ah, yes_, Sirius recalled cheerfully, _it's summer._

He rolled out of bed and stood on the ornate carpet of his bedroom. Actually, this room had only become his as of recently; last summer had seen his escape to James's manor from his own house and maniacal family in London, and James's kindly parents had bestowed upon him one of their many guest suites.

Sirius pulled back the drapes and stepped through the French door onto his tiny stone balcony. Beyond the immediate garden, which was very pretty with winding slate paths, low hedges and ornate ceramic pots overflowing with primroses, lay a well-kempt and mown area of the field where the Potters regularly threw outdoor parties. Then there was a stone wall and beyond that the rolling Heathland. A forest of pine trees and silver birches lay beyond another stone wall on the far side of a broad, gentle hill covered thickly in heather, heath and gorse. Farther away still, beyond the forest, the steeples of the nearest town were visible.

Sirius leaned against the stone railing of his balcony. All along this face of the manor, (which had a name, Thestrel's Perch) other balconies like his advertised the long hallway of suites. Two balconies down was James's, easily distinguishable from the others because James kept a broomstick leaning against the railing and a rope ladder looped over the side for a convenient exit.

Away atop the next hill Sirius could see Tara Nevan's family's manor, Primroses, standing up majestically and unassumingly in the bright morning sunshine. At the property line, marked by a crumbling stone wall, the Heathland changed abruptly to fields of grass. Horses grazed in a low, shady paddock next to a small stream. Away behind the stables was a small, thatched cottage that Sirius and James often used for getting drunk, even though it belonged to the Nevans.

At first glance, the differences between Thestrel's Perch and Primroses were like the differences between night and day. Thestrel's Perch was stark and gloomy, with long, dark hallways and stern portraits on the walls. It was known far and wide for the glorious masquerades James's parents threw at Halloween, and the balls that took place regularly year-round.

Primroses, on the other hand, was a bright country estate, with flowers and horses and green hills dotted with sheep. Tara's parents covertly employed Muggles to hay the fields and manage the animals, though they also had two house elves to manage day-to-day cooking and cleaning.

And yet, despite their differences, both Thestrel's Perch and Primroses were owned by old wizard families that had been maintaining the land – and dearly befriending each other – for generations.

In the midst of contemplating all of this – Mr. Potter had given him a lesson on the history of the property when he had first arrived in Devon that July night one year ago – Sirius heard a knock at the door.

"Come in!" he called, turning around and stepping back into his bedroom.

James pushed the door open and strode in. "Gooood morning, mate!" he remarked cheerfully. "How long have you been up?"

Sirius shrugged. "Only a few minutes. Want to get something to eat soon?"

James nodded. "Yeah, I'll go take a shower and then we'll head down."

"Alright."

As James returned to his room, Sirius picked out some clothes for the day and climbed into his large marble shower. Somebody – probably one of the three house elves – had lain a fluffy white towel for him on a shelf in the bathroom.

Sirius sighed contently as he fiddled with the knobs controlling the hot water. He loved it here. There were no stresses and no responsibilities. Thestrel's Perch was truly Heaven on Earth.

-

"Would Sirius Black like porridge or sausage this morning?" Teaky, one of the house elves, squeaked.

"Er… could I have both?" Sirius asked slowly, intensely considering both options and not coming up with a distinctive preference.

"Oh, certainly, sir!" Teaky squeaked back. She turned to James. "And you, Master James?"

"I'll have both, too, thanks," James instructed briskly.

Teaky nodded and scurried out of the solarium to do their bidding.

James tipped his chair back on two legs and sighed. "So!" he said lazily. "What are we going to do today?"

It was the third day of summer vacation, and they were eating in the solarium because it was a beautiful morning and the exotic plants hanging from the iron beams below the solarium's glass roof were in full bloom. James's mother had been eating at the circular glass table when the two boys had come downstairs, but she had since finished her after-breakfast cup of tea and had retreated into the house to plan for later in the evening, when several of James's relatives were set to visit.

"I don't know," Sirius replied, equally lazy. "Swimming?"

James nodded thoughtfully. "We should probably call Tara and see if she wants to come, too."

Sirius groaned. "If you must."

James rolled his eyes. "Heard from Annie yet?" he asked, changing the subject.

Sirius shook his head idly. "Nope, but I'm not worried."

James drummed his fingers on the glass tabletop. "Why don't you like Tara?" he inquired briskly.

Sirius frowned in thought. "It's not so much that I don't _like_ her, it's that… well..."

Truth be told, he couldn't really remember right off the bat what he disliked about Tara Nevan. Something about how in love with him she was, and how she was always underfoot, and how great it felt to make out with Savannah right in front of her…

It wasn't so much that he significantly disliked Tara, Sirius realized, so much that she was fun to exclude. He didn't like her because she was too loud and too blunt and, though kind of cute, to be sure, was nowhere near as gorgeous as she thought she was. He didn't like the fact that she thought that she had a right to talk to him all the time just because… well, because they were neighbors, kind of… and he didn't like how James always hinted at what an adorable couple they would make.

But deep down, Sirius didn't significantly mind anything about Tara; he just enjoyed ignoring her because he knew that, however obnoxious he was, she would always come back wanting more. He turned to James.

"This may sound pretty awful, mate, but I think I just really like ignoring her because it makes her… well… _want_ me more."

James laughed in surprise. He nodded for a few moments as if in thought, and then said, "I feel you, man."

Sirius raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Do you?"

James nodded. "It was the same when she was infatuated with me! It felt great to spite her, because she's so… well… insecure that all it does is make her want your approval even more!"

Sirius laughed despite himself, because it was so chauvinistic and yet so, so true.

"She's a nice girl, though," James added thoughtfully. "She doesn't really deserve to be treated like shit, even if she practically begs for it."

Sirius shrugged idly. "Yeah."

James frowned, and then laughed again. "You know who would give us _such_ shit for talking like this?"

Sirius smiled fondly. "Moony?"

James nodded. "Yes. And maybe he has a point, too. I mean to say…" He trailed off.

Sirius pretended to be overly curious. "You mean to say _what_? What?"

James laughed easily. Then he looked serious. "I mean it would be _so_ easy for you to just completely _use_ Tara, you know what I mean? And I mean, I know that you wouldn't because that's… well, that's pretty shitty for a bloke to do, but can't you imagine Moony just ranting on and on about it?"

Sirius nodded in agreement. He had received plenty of lectures from Remus in the past regarding his indiscriminant "use" of girls.

"You should never _actually_ be mean to Tara," James continued, looking Sirius in the eye now as if giving him instructions. "I mean, I feel you, but at the same, Tara's like my sister in a weird, twisted way, and I don't want you to do anything to hurt her." He smiled slightly. "More than you've already done, anyway."

"Of course not, mate," Sirius replied at once. He sighed and stretched, then shook his head. "But does that still mean we have to invite her to swim with us?"

James smiled. "Well, I guess not."

Teaky returned, bearing a large platter of porridge and crackling sausages, and carrying a pot of tea. Sirius and James picked up forks, knives and mugs and dug in.

-

They had been swimming in the swimming hole – a wide, deep part of the brook, sheltered on three sides by rocks, that cut across the Nevan property – for almost half an hour when Tara rode up over the hill on one of her horses. She was moving at a brisk trot and her hair hung loose, swishing around behind her and looking oddly reminiscent of her horse's mane and tail.

"Oh hello, you two!" Tara exclaimed, slowing the horse – it was brown with white markings – to a walk and directing it toward the stream, where it drank dutifully.

"Hi," James replied pleasantly, climbing out of the water to sit on a rock.

"Hey, Tara," Sirius added, smiling at her in what he hoped was a friendly – if indifferent – manner. His gray eyes met Tara's green ones, and she smiled, too, though he had been attempting to look haughty.

"Your mum said I might find you two here," Tara remarked, leading the horse splashing across a shallow part of the stream before sliding off of its back gracefully and tying its reins to a low branch.

She was wearing cutoff shorts and a T-shirt, but she soon stripped both off, revealing a dark blue bathing suit. "I figured I might as well join in."

James smiled at her, gave Sirius a disconcerting wink, and dove off of his rock into the deep water. Tara deftly wove her hair into a braid, secured it with a rubber band, and took a running leap off of the rock after him.

Sirius laughed despite himself – after all, it was summer, and he was happy. He paddled out of the deep water and pulled himself up into an overhanging tree, grabbing the rope that had long ago been secured there and pushing himself back out so that his legs skimmed the water until he let go and plunged once again into the deep end.

When he came up, he saw Tara, looking remarkably slender and fit in her modest one-piece suit, take a running leap and do a cannonball right on top of him.

They both came up laughing.

_Damn it, I want to have a relaxing summer, and being indifferent to Tara is waaaay to much effort_, Sirius rationalized as James grinned and did a canon ball on top of him as well.

Tara laughed harder, and pulled herself onto the rocks. "Your turn, Sirius," she instructed.

Sirius yanked himself onto the rock next to her and leapt off, sending a blast of water all over Tara and into the low trees overhead. As Tara laughed again and dove elegantly after him, Sirius smiled at the sky visible through the gaps in the leaves overhead. Summer was wonderful.

-

It was suppertime and the days were passing pleasantly. Sirius sat along one side of the long dining room table, Mr. Potter at the end to his right, Mrs. Potter at the end to his left, James across from him. Two uncles of James's were also seated, one beside Sirius and one beside James. The uncles were talking about their work at the ministry.

"Don't know what we're going to do, all these new reports of pure-blood fanaticism… It's been strong for ages, but this new group is really starting to advocate for…"

Sirius tuned out. He was thinking about sex.

_You're such a teenage boy_, he thought, shaking his head internally in bemusement.

But he couldn't help it. Summer had been progressing for over two weeks, and the closest he'd come to a good snog had been when an older cousin of James's – she had been, perhaps, twenty-five – had stopped by for dinner the week before and had gotten a tad tipsy. But then, of course, James had shaken his head in aggravation and dragged Sirius up to his room, where they had split a bottle of vodka tonic swiped from the liquor cupboard and then gone on a thrilling, drunken nighttime adventure over the Heathland until they'd made it to the cottage in the back corner of the Nevans' fields, where they had ended up passing out on a dusty, moldy-smelling bed.

Sirius had received one letter from Savannah. It had begun:

_Hey, Sirius! I'm in Italy and it's pretty awesome. We're staying in a villa and Annette and I have been having quite a thrill hitting on the local boys…_

Though she had avoided details, Sirius had frowned in frustration. He was not angry that Savannah was snogging other males – indeed, he couldn't have cared less – but he could not help but be a teensy bit bitter that she was surrounded by attractive potential hookups while all he had were some house elves and the irritating Tara Nevan.

Actually, Tara had been growing marginally less irritating. The Nevans had thrown a semi-formal dinner for several families the week before, and the Potters and Sirius had been invited to attend. Most of the other children were younger; after eating, while the adults sat down to drink wine, Tara, James and Sirius had snuck down the back staircase and found their way out to the stables, where they climbed up into the hayloft and told each other creepy stories while drinking spiked butterbeer. It was surprisingly entertaining. And in the fit of drunken bonding that ensued, Sirius had decided that Tara Nevan wasn't actually all that bad.

The next day he was over it, of course, but still, the experience had lowered his lack of receptiveness to Tara's charm.

For she _did_ have a certain charm. She was very blunt, though sometimes awkwardly so, as she was comfortable with James but got carried away when talking to Sirius. She had a strange sense of humor, frequently delivering pseudo-insults – "Sirius, that shirt is _hideous_!" – that weren't worthy of laughter.

Sirius didn't really know why she did it.

"She's actually pretty funny sometimes," James had remarked mildly, after Sirius had complained to him about Tara's discomfited behavior. "She's just insecure around you. Maybe you should… I dunno… start laughing at her jokes or something, and she'll loosen up."

Having nothing better to do, Sirius had started going along with Tara's off sense of humor, and, much to his – and James's – astonishment, results were positive. Indeed, once he had tricked her into feeling comfortable around him, Tara had suddenly become acutely more interesting.

Now, thinking about sex, Sirius considered what would happen if he got with Tara. It was purely hypothetical, of course – he still was not remotely attracted to Tara sexually – but really, she was the only girl around for miles, and he was getting mighty sick of celibacy.

_Fuck it_, he realized, _I'd break her heart._

But did it really matter?

-

"If I were an Animagus, I think I would be a horse," Tara said one evening, as she, James and Sirius – they had lately begun to spend more and more time together, as Sirius was no longer inherently opposed to it – sat on the railing of her family's paddock, watching the herd of horses grazing in the sunset.

Sirius smiled slightly. He remembered the thrill he had felt upon discovering his own Animagus form, the dog. Turning into an animal was a wonderful experience, and he and James had been running across the Heathland as Prongs and Padfoot most nights since the beginning of summer.

"You really like horses, don't you?" he observed.

Tara nodded. "I've ridden them all my life."

James laughed quietly. "You sound like such a horse snob, Tara."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, _gosh_, Tara. I hate you lot."

Tara grinned and leaned toward him. "And why is that?"

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno, you're just all horse-obsessed and… think you're oh-so-free and wild and graceful when you ride across the meadows of Devon with your hair blowing in the wind. You know, that kind of shit."

Tara giggled. "Damn straight we're free and graceful! But hey, I don't force it on you."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh sure, Tara. You're always riding over to Thestrel's Perch on Blinky or whatever–"

Tara was laughing. "Blazer," she interrupted. "Blazer's my horse." She scanned the herd and pointed out the horse's dark form.

"I bet that's a different one," James said abruptly. "They all look the same in the dark."

Tara rolled her eyes and shoved him. "Maybe to you, Jamie."

Sirius grinned. "See, Tara? This is what I mean!"

Tara pulled her long hair over one shoulder and turned to look at him. "What is?"

"This elitism!" Sirius explained, moving his hands around as he sought the proper words. "You're all like, 'You could_ never_ understand horses the way _I _do!'_ Gosh_, Tara! I dunno if I ever told you, but I was _raised_ by wild horses–"

Tara stiffened. "Oh, shut it," she interrupted. "That's not true at all. My family happens to own a bunch of horses so I ride around on them because I don't have a bloody _motorcycle_. What _else_ am I supposed to do?"

Sirius grinned again. "This is true."

Tara braced her arms against the fence and leaned backward slightly.

"You should take me for a ride some time, Sirius."

He nodded in thought. "I could," he observed. He smiled again in amusement. "You should probably take me for a ride on Blinky, too, though… y'know, so we can compare modes of transportation."

Tara giggled. "It's a deal."

James laughed quietly again, but did not explain why. Sirius chose to ignore him.

"Hell, let's go right now!" he suggested to Tara, swinging his legs and pushing himself off of the fence onto the short grass. "We can fly over the forest."

Tara grinned, and Sirius couldn't help but catch her eye. "Let's go, then."

James smiled and asked nonchalantly, "Do you two want to get drunk tonight?"

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe."

Tara shrugged as well. "I don't drink."

James laughed. "Bull shit."

Tara laughed too. "Just kidding. Um… if you guys want, we can all camp out in the cottage and get drunk out there."

James nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds like a plan. Well, I'm going to go swipe some alcohol, but you two can go for your little moonlit motorcycle ride…" He jumped off of the fence as well, and headed back down the hill to the stone wall separating the two properties.

"Shall we?" Tara suggested.

Sirius nodded. "We shall."

Together, they walked along the wall and then across the Heathland until they reached one of the many small, thatched-roofed barns spattered liberally across the Potters' property. Sirius's motorcycle was parked inside of this one.

Sirius rolled it out into the moonlight, where it gleamed slightly. He had first acquired the motorcycle at the beginning of last summer, and had used as a mode of transportation when escaping to James's house. He and James occasionally flew down to the village on it, zooming wildly down to drive on the dirt road before rounding the last bend so as to prevent Muggles from spotting them.

Tara giggled. "I like it."

Sirius nodded. "And you see, young Tara," he observed thoughtfully, "if _I _were an Animagus…"

Tara giggled again.

Sirius chose not to complete his sentence. Instead, he revved up the motorcycle and instructed Tara to climb onto the back.

"You get the bitch seat," he informed her.

Tara laughed. "I'm honored."

Then, with a roar, Sirius kicked off the ground and they flew.

It was in the midst of sitting on a vibrating motorcycle, Tara's arms wrapped tightly around his waist, the cool night air swooshing past on all sides, that Sirius decided he really, really needed to get laid.

He turned his head so as to look back at Tara; she was grinning exuberantly, looking around on all sides at the Heathland below them. Her long hair was tied back in a ponytail, which was whipping every which way in the wind. She was wearing a light-blue T-shirt and cutoff denim shorts, as usual. She was shivering almost unconsciously.

Indeed, it was getting a bit chilly zooming through the air on a motorcycle. Sirius hadn't bothered to put on his leather jacket, and he wasn't sure if Tara even owned one.

"Let's go back!" he shouted over the roar of the engine.

"What?" Tara yelled.

Sirius shook his head; he careened around in a broad arc and zoomed across the Heathland feet above the ground, suddenly speeding upward as a new idea struck him; Tara shrieked happily, oblivious to the cold, as the heather and grouse fell away.

Sirius slowed the motorcycle's speed as they approached the roof of Thestrel's Perch; spotting the flat rooftop patio he was aiming for, Sirius decreased the speed still more. He touched down gently among the bare clotheslines and helped Tara to dismount.

"Why are we here?" she hissed, giggling slightly.

Sirius smiled mischievously and didn't answer; he grabbed her by the hand (he felt Tara stiffen slightly in mingled surprise and delight) and pulled her across the slate patio to the low door leading to what would traditionally be known as the servant's quarters – the low rooms at the very top of the house.

"Sirius, what–" Tara began again, but stopped as Sirius put a finger to his lips and led her through the rooms and down the hall to the staircase; they did not say another word until the reached the door to Sirius's bedroom two floors below.

"Shhh," Sirius murmured, opening the door a bit, holding a finger to his lips again, and jerking his head purposefully toward his room.

Tara looked at him wide-eyed. "What–"

"C'mere," Sirius whispered, pulling her into his bedroom and shutting the door behind them.

"What are we doing?" Tara whispered. Then she smiled. "And why are we whispering?" she demanded in a normal voice.

Sirius grinned, and shrugged. "I don't know, I just like being all secretive." He, too, now spoke in a normal voice.

Tara laughed. "Well…" She went to the window and looked out at the moon now rising over the Heathland. She turned back to look at him, the moonlight shining through the glass and illuminating her face. It was remarkably flattering lighting; instead of looking pleasantly cute as she usually did, Tara looked straight-up beautiful.

Sirius walked slowly toward her, wondering how wrong it was for a guy to get with a girl under these circumstances – the circumstances being that he knew that she was incredibly down. And also that he was incredibly horny. Would she take this the wrong way? Sirius wasn't sure, and did not particularly care; he was an insensitive teenage boy, after all. And it wasn't like Tara was Claire Delacour.

He slid one hand around to the small of Tara's back – he could hear her swallow in delighted anticipation as he did so – and tilted her chin up with the other. Then he kissed her fully.

Tara responded at once; her mouth yielded to Sirius's tongue, and when, still kissing her passionately, he led her to his bed and pushed her gently back onto it, she did not protest. Sirius climbed on top of her and kissed her more and more persistently, feeling himself getting more and more aroused as he did so. Now _this_ was the way to live the summer to its fullest!

Pulling back slightly, Sirius looked deep into Tara's golden-green eyes. She was breathing a little hard; no doubt she was feeling almost as aroused as he was.

Excellent.

Sirius smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead; Tara grinned despite herself, wondering vaguely if this was perhaps some extremely graphic, marvelous dream. Sirius Black, her crush of the last twelve months, was kissing her at last.

Considering she was moderately attractive and not especially shy, Tara Nevan had markedly little experience with boys. Back in the fall, she had been kissed by a boy in her year, and she had made out with that same boy at a later date, but aside from that, Tara Nevan was an utter virgin. And so, when she felt Sirius Black's hands sliding slowly and oh-so-enticingly up under her shirt, she hesitated.

"Wait," she protested in a whisper. "Sirius…"

He pulled away slightly so as to look at her fully; he did not remove his hands from her stomach, but he did not move them any higher. "Tara…"

Then he sighed, removed his hands, and went back to kissing her passionately on the lips.

After a while, though, Tara was getting hot and wishing he would do something more. She pulled back slightly, and Sirius stopped kissing her to look into her eyes again. Tara didn't say anything; her gaze simply shifted, almost subconsciously, from his face to his chest and back up again. But Sirius, with knowledge gained from years of hooking up with girls, knew what she meant.

He kissed her fully again, and for a moment Tara thought that he had not understood her message, but then she felt one of his hands glide up over her stomach until he grabbed her breast and held it firmly.

Tara inhaled sharply. Sirius almost laughed to himself; she had stolen his air. What a beginner.

Soon she felt both hands trailing upward, and then he was inching her shirt off, and finally she was sitting up for a brief moment, pulling it over her head, and tossing it onto the ground. She sank back into the cool sheets while Sirius kissed her again.

It proceeded from there. Before she knew it, he had taken off his shirt, and then his hand had somehow slipped around to her back and, with a near-silent snapping noise, had unhitched her bra. Tara noticed it was hanging loosely from her shoulders and shrugged it off, letting it slide onto the floor beside her discarded shirt.

Then he had stopped kissing her mouth and his lips were working their way down her neck, to her collar bone and her breasts, and she could feel his tongue trailing places she had never considered allowing another person's tongue to trail. Then again, she reminded herself as she inhaled sharply with pleasure, Sirius was not just any person; he was the man she loved.

If Sirius could have heard her thoughts, he probably would have had one response:

Ohhhhh, shit.

-

"Way to come drink last night," James observed sardonically the next morning, as Sirius emerged from his bedroom after a leisurely shower. He had been up quite late; after several hours of snogging Tara, he had snuck her back up to the roof and flown her home, praying all the while that nobody would hear his motorcycle.

"Well, we were both tired," Sirius replied, feigning indifference. Then he grinned.

James burst out laughing. "I can't _believe_ you got with Tara!"

Sirius smiled slightly. "And what makes you think I did that?"

James grinned. "Oh, don't play that card." He laughed and shook his head. "Honestly, mate, it was about time!"

Sirius rolled his eyes but then smiled again. "It's going to be a fun summer, I'll give you that."

James nodded thoughtfully. "Been feeling sexually repressed?"

Sirius grinned. "A bit."

James nodded again. "I feel you, man… as always." He sighed. "Man, sometimes I wish…" He trailed off.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "You and Lily will end up together in the end, Prongs. Don't stress over it."

James nodded a third time. "Yes… well…" He was suddenly businesslike. "Padfoot, you're my best mate, but I need you to promise me that you won't break Tara's heart."

Sirius shrugged. "I won't; it's summer. Come now, Prongs, who else would I be getting with?"

James frowned, trying to look stern. "You know what I mean. Hook up with her if you must, but you _know_ that Tara doesn't have a lot of experience with guys. Make sure you don't lead her on."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I promise I shall do nothing cruel to dear Tara."

James smiled grudgingly. "But anyway, mate, that's cute. I can't wait to owl Moony and Peter about it."

Sirius grinned roguishly. "Yes, I'm sure they'll be absolutely thrilled."

-

Sirius soon realized that he was highly un-flirtatious around Tara. While he had constantly assaulted every other girl he had ever hooked up with or dated with flattering comments, subtle glances and blatant winks, Sirius continued to treat Tara as he always had: as the somewhat-pesky neighbor girl who at times got annoying and needed to be argued with.

"We're kind of busy right now," he informed her bluntly when her head appeared in the fireplace of James's kitchen one morning, a few days after they had hooked up.

"Oh," Tara replied, taken aback. "So you don't want to head down to the village with me?"

Sirius shrugged. "Not really."

Tara frowned, obviously hurt. "Well… okay."

Sirius smiled at her consolingly. "Sorry, Tara; we'll see you this evening, though."

She nodded and disappeared from the fireplace. They had hooked up the night before, as well, but nowhere near as passionately as that first night; indeed, they had simply been sitting in the cottage and waiting for James – who was taking a remarkably long time – to show up with the food he had promised to retrieve from the manor. Even afterward, when the three of them were pleasantly drunk, Sirius did not bother attempting to kiss Tara. He just hadn't been in the mood.

-

Tara was proving remarkably content to hook up with Sirius at his beck and call. Too his mind, it was pretty awesome, though if he had thought about it harder he might have wondered if Tara felt at all degraded.

One afternoon, after a week of abstention – he had been too lazy to make anything happen since that one chaste night in the cottage – Sirius sat in his room, chunks of sunshine occasionally making their way across the carpet from gaps in the racing clouds overhead, and decided that he was feeling horny.

James was in a meeting with his parents downstairs; they wanted to talk to him about the ball they were throwing at the end of the month. Sirius had excused himself and had said that he was probably going to go take a nap.

Well, a nap with Tara was better than a nap all by his lonesome.

Sirius brushed his teeth leisurely – no point kissing anybody with bad breath – and strolled down the hallway to James's bedroom. Stepping onto the balcony, which was identical to his own, he picked up James's broomstick. Then, just incase James grew curious later, he stepped back into the bedroom, grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from James's desk, and scrawled

_Took the broom out for a spin. Sirius._

He left this note on the balcony floor, one end held down beneath a heavy bottle of broomstick handle polish. Then he clambered up onto the thick stone railing around the balcony and jumped off.

He flew across the Heathland and then crossed the stone wall onto the Nevan property. He careened in a broad curve across the meadow and skidded to a halt on one of the many slate patios adjacent to Primroses.

Sirius rapped on the nearest door, and waited. A few moments later, one of the house elves appeared. "Greetings, Mr. Black!" it squeaked. "How does you want Malcker to help you, sir?"

Sirius smiled deftly. "Could you go find Tara?"

The elf nodded. "Oh, of course, sir!" it squeaked, vanishing with a crack.

A few minutes later, Tara Nevan came hurrying down the narrow hallway, her long light brown hair hanging loose over her shoulders and down her back. She was wearing a pretty yellow and white sundress that fell to her knees and tied in a bow at her waist; if Sirius recalled correctly, she had just attended an afternoon tea with her mother and aunt, and was clearly dressed for the occasion.

"You look cute," he observed wryly, and Tara giggled.

"Why, thank you."

Actually, now that she was in direct light, Sirius realized that she didn't look cute; she looked downright hot. He had always been a sucker for girls in flattering dresses, and Tara Nevan was no exception.

Feeling turned on, Sirius quirked a roguish grin at her. "Just what have you been up to?"

Tara smiled at him broadly. "Well, my aunt and my mum made me join them for tea on the terrace, but now I've been excused."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully, smiled at her, and shook his hair out of his eyes sultrily.

Despite her attempts to control herself, Tara grinned. "Um… do you want to come in?"

Sirius nodded again. "I would like that very much indeed."

As Tara led him quickly down the hallway, through the kitchen, and up the back staircase, she ran a hand through her silky hair nervously. "Where's James?" she asked.

Sirius shrugged languidly. "Consorting with the parents. They need to talk to him about the latest ball they're putting on… probably want him to dedicate something or make a speech."

Tara nodded, and again could not resist the overwhelming urge to grin broadly. She was utterly infatuated with her current predicament. The very sight of Sirius Black caused her to get overly hot and antsy these days, and she could recognize him by smell now – that aroma of loam and spices and that ineffable third component that so many other girls had also come to recognize, that smell that made her want nothing more than to sink down into a soft, cool bed and sigh dramatically.

They had reached Tara's bedroom; Sirius locked the door behind them as Tara sat down on her lacy comforter and fidgeted with the ribbon on her sundress.

"I went down to the village the other day," she murmured breathlessly, as Sirius, clad in an ever-so-attractive and masculine pair of dark khakis and a black T-shirt, strode across the room and sat down beside her on the bed.

He nodded idly. "Sounds fun."

Then he tossed his hair out of his eyes and looked at her sideways. "Tara," he murmured. "Tara, Tara, Tara…"

Tara swallowed slightly and blushed. She would have done anything for him at that moment – anything he asked. "Sirius, Sirius, Sirius…" she murmured back, and he grinned at her.

Then he leaned over and kissed her, placing one hand at the small of her back so as to pull her toward him more firmly. After a moment, Tara leaned back until she was lying down, and he followed her, kissing her more and more persistently.

Tara gasped slightly, and trailed her hands down over his T-shirt until her fingers were hitched in his belt loops.

Sirius pulled back and frowned, fumbling with the narrow ribbon affixed to the waist of her sundress. Tara smiled as he pulled the proper string and undid the loose, floppy bow; however, almost to Tara's disappointment, he did not attempt to pull the dress over her head.

A few minutes later, she felt one of his hands trailing down over her chest and across her stomach, and then caressing her thigh through the thin fabric of her sundress. Tara squirmed slightly; nobody had ever done this to her before.

Then his hand looped around and his fingers were caressing the smooth skin of her inner thigh. Tara inhaled sharply. He fingers danced up her leg, higher and higher, and then reached her panties. He trailed them over the white cotton, brought them up to her stomach, and then slid them down between her legs.

Tara inhaled sharply again. A part of her felt that this was moving too fast – fingered on a third hookup? Well, maybe, but she had only recently turned sixteen, and had only kissed one other boy before this one – but she wasn't about to make Sirius stop. He was doing incredible things with his fingers, things he had learned from years of practice, but Tara did not trouble herself to consider this.

"Sirius!" she moaned slightly, saying it because it seemed an appropriate, romantic thing to moan; she could have just as easily remained silent.

Sirius kissed her gently and withdrew his fingers; Tara realized she was breathing heavily.

"Was that the first time somebody's done that to you?" Sirius murmured, resting his chin on her chest and looking up at her.

Tara nodded, her green-and-gold flecked eyes wide.

Sirius quirked one side of his mouth into a grin.

"Like it?"

Tara nodded again, and smiled.

Sirius smiled back at her, sighed, and stretched. "Oh Tara, Tara, Tara…" he murmured, shifting his body so that he was lying down next to her and pressing a hand to her flat stomach.

Tara grinned. "Ohhh Sirius."

Sirius barked out a laugh. He buried his nose in Tara's hair and licked her ear just enough to make her shiver slightly and giggle. She smelled clean, like floral shampoo. He ran his fingers through her long light-brown hair and pulled her close to him. They lay there on the lacy comforter, not speaking, Tara basking in the affection she had sought for an entire year and Sirius musing to himself how much he loved having a girl in his arms.

He liked Tara, he decided. He liked her quite a bit.

---

Reviews :D

beckers123 – Thanks, pal!

Leirfivelen – Meh, the English version of Søren is spelled "Soren." I know there's an "ø" in the real Scandinavian spelling but let's assume they Anglicized it at Hogwarts and started writing it with an "o."

SpAzZzZzAtTaCk – Haha, thanks!

FireQueen618 – They're in sixth year going into seventh. As yet, I've come up with several potential plot twists that involve Remus finding love, but nothing is definitive yet. I dunno, chances are it'll happen to some extent or another. Linnet might turn up later, too, but Sirius most likely won't be getting with her again. I'm glad you like the story!

elle – Haha, happy to help!

tulips car – thank you!

indie-jellybean – Haha, thanks!

The Cotton Candy Kisses – Thank you :)

SeaNymph – Thank you! My brother's name is Pierre-Michel and my sister's name is Jeanne D'Arc. But our last name is boring and bland and American. Ma mère est folle.

lavizsla – Thank you!

Ginny-and-Draco-fan – Thank you!

Potpoury – Thank you! Haha, sorry it took so long!

**Review, please :)**


	8. Summer's End, and All That Goes With It

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **M, though this chapter is pretty clean.

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

A/N: See? I updated quickly! I think I'm trying to make up for my abysmal job of updating over the past seven months. Besides, I've come up with_ loads_ more ideas for this story, and I'd better write them down quickly before I forget them!

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Eight

_Summer's End, and All That Goes With It_

Sirius was sitting at a large, round table atop the mown area of grass behind Thestrel's Perch. James sat two seats to his right, Tara sat opposite him, and a horde of assorted cousins and acquaintances of the Potters', all within the age range of fifteen to eighteen, sat at the remaining nine chairs.

The moon was full overhead; this was a harvest festival of sorts. "Of sorts" was the operative term; fabulous food was being served on silver platters and the Heathland – which was, ironically enough, itself a product of over-farming – was illuminated by the light of the many cast-iron torches Mrs. Potter had ordered positioned along the stone wall.

Tara kept trying to catch Sirius's eye from over her many-faceted crystal goblet, but any response he gave her was completely insincere and accidental. He had received a postcard from Claire that morning, embossed with a picture of a rather ugly camel. He guessed she was somewhere in North Africa, probably with Hector's family.

The postcard had said simply:

_Hey, pal._

_Hope this finds you well._

_x x (one for each cheek!)_

In reading those three simple lines, Sirius had experienced more emotion than he had accumulatively felt in months.

His first emotion was one of deep-seated sorrow. He missed Claire immensely. He missed her bitchiness, her sense of humor, her wry intelligence, her violet eyes. Most of all, he missed the feeling of being with a girl he truly cared about. Tara was endearing, sure, and she had a good heart, but she was also somewhat awkward and – this was the worst part – insecure. Indeed, in many ways, Tara epitomized the opposite of everything Sirius had loved about Claire.

Tara was still looking at Sirius from across the table, raising her eyebrows now in a blatant bid for his attention. Her hair was pulled back and clipped in a half ponytail, and she was clad in a flattering green semi-formal summer dress.

Ever since he had started hooking up with her, Sirius had decided that Tara was better looking than he had previously given her credit for. He rather enjoyed running his fingers through her long, silky hair, which nowadays fell to the middle of her back. He was fond of the gleam in her green and gold eyes. Her nose was straight, her face was narrow, and he liked how he could only see her subtle freckles at close range.

But at the same time, Tara was Tara. Hooking up was fun, obviously, but he knew he never, ever would want to date her.

Across the table, Tara cleared her throat slightly, but Sirius stared into his goblet and pretended not to notice.

The second emotion Sirius had felt upon reading Claire's postcard had been intense dislike of Hector Zabini, but that had quickly faded into a new emotion: resolve. Sirius remembered deciding back in the spring that he would some day find himself a girl who made him feel the same way Claire had, and his dedication to this goal had sprung back into his consciousness.

His first thoughts on the subject were rather crude.

_Fuck Tara Nevan_.

Then he had laughed slightly, because this was a terrible, insensitive thing to think, and he knew it. He did not _really_ wish Tara any harm. Then he had smiled again; the phrase "Fuck Tara Nevan" had two meanings. Being a teenage boy, he found this funny.

Actually, because he wished Tara no harm, he wasn't about to go and take her virginity, even though he knew she wouldn't mind. But in spite of his horniness, Sirius knew that having sex was not for casual summer flings; it was for actual dating relationships.

Everything else _but_ sex was fair game, though.

Poor Tara; he was corrupting her so…

Sirius returned to the present as James kicked him under the table.

"What's up?" he asked distractedly.

James glanced from side to side discreetly and then pointed to Sirius, pointed to himself, and pantomimed taking a shot.

Sirius barked out a laugh and shrugged in confirmation. There was no reason not to get pleasantly drunk tonight; the adults were already tipsy off of the Potters' expensive wine, and the teenagers might as well follow suit.

Sirius idly examined the chive sauce with which his potatoes had been served, his mind drifting back to Claire again. Having nothing pressing on his schedule that afternoon – obviously, seeing as it was summer; and besides, James's mother had been preparing for the ball and had wanted him and James out of the house anyway – he had flown down to the village on his motorcycle, bought a cheap Muggle postcard (with difficulty; he hadn't understood any of the money until the nice man behind the counter had offered to help him), and flown back up to the Heathland.

The postcard had a picture of the fields of Devon on it, complete with a smattering of sheep. Sirius had scrawled on the back,

_I wish there were a camel._

_Also, that you're well._

_X (I don't kiss cheeks!)_

He had sent it before he could change his mind.

-

Sirius was with James on the roof. They were sitting on the patio outside of the servants' quarters, having flown there on broomsticks from the Heathland below. It was the middle of the day and James had ordered one of the house elves to bring them cold drinks. School was set to resume in three weeks, and equipment lists for the coming school year had arrived that morning, as well as a note informing James that he was to be Head Boy.

"What the hell?" he had said, flabbergasted, upon opening the letter. He had looked up at Sirius in shock. "What, did my parents donate a lot of gold to the school, or something?"

Sirius had laughed, equally bewildered. "I don't know, mate, but it's certainly good news, isn't it?"

James had looked queasy. "I'm not sure…" Then he laughed. "Aw, who am I kidding? This is going to be bloody _brilliant_!"

Additionally, three personal letters had arrived that morning. The first was from Remus.

_Dear Prongs and Padfoot,_

_I hope this finds you well. I'm in France and it's terrible. We're on the Côte d'Azur and I'm bored as hell. Luckily we're leaving in a week and then maybe I'll come down and stay with you lot for the last week of summer, yeah? We can all go to Diagon Alley together._

_I was not at _all_ surprised to hear about Padfoot and dear Tara. I definitely had a good chuckle when I got your letter, James. I won't lecture you (yet... heheheh), but Sirius, please imagine what I would have to say about everything, were I there. In this way, I hope you can moderate yourself. Or not._

_Anyway, see you all in a couple weeks._

_-Moony_

The next letter was from Peter.

_Dear Padfoot and Prongs,_

_I'm back! Drop me a line when you lot want to meet up, I hope we can all go to Diagon Alley, and what-not. _

_Summer's been grand. I'll tell you more later._

_-Wormtail_

_  
P.S. Sirius and Tara, ha HA!_

The final letter was the latest from Savannah.

_Dear Sirius,_

_I hope you've been staying out of trouble. _I_ sure haven't! Haha, anyway, I'm back on the island and would really love to meet up with you at Diagon Alley. Probably can't get down to James's before the start of term, though it was nice of you to suggest it. Tell him I'll drag Lily along if you lot want to shop with us._

_I've got reams of stories to tell you from my wild adventures in Italy. I can't wait to see you!_

Molti baci_ (See! I learned loads),_

_Annie_

Sirius had smiled after reading it. He had indeed suggested to Savannah that she come down to Devon before the start of term, even though he knew that mixing Savannah and Tara would probably be a teensy bit uncomfortable.

No matter; he would see her at Diagon Alley.

Thinking about it, Sirius realized he wasn't entirely sure where their relationship stood. They had definitely both spent the last two months hooking up with other people; leaping back into a committed relationship straight off the bat was probably not the wisest of moves. Still, Sirius was looking forward to seeing Savannah, and – though this was probably a tad disloyal to Tara, but whatever – hooking up with her again. For that was one thing they could surely do, regardless of whether or not they were technically a couple.

-

"Sirius, where does our relationship stand?"

He was lying in bed half-naked with Tara, and she was tracing her fingers over his chest and asking that oh-so-awkward question.

"Mmm…" he mumbled incoherently. He really was not in the mood to answer. Wasn't it obvious? They were a summer fling, a casual hook up, and nothing more. But of course, Tara – innocent (well, sort of), pretty, naïve Tara – could not have known this.

Sirius chose to ignore the subject, knowing this was a decision he would regret even as he made it.

"Why does it matter?" he asked, and leaned over to kiss her passionately, ceasing all talk.

He felt like he was letting James down. James had asked him the same question the other day, followed by the reassurance of,

"I mean, I _know_ that it's not going to continue into the school year, but mate, _she_ probably doesn't know that."

Sirius had shrugged. "I'll figure it out later."

James had winced slightly. "Sirius…"

Sirius had rolled his eyes. "Oh hush it already."

James had smiled. "Sirius, what would Moony say?"

Sirius had barked out a laugh. "I'd rather not know."

-

It looked as if he was going to be finding out was Remus would say remarkably soon; he and Peter were both set to arrive that evening, and Mrs. Potter had prepared a feast for the occasion.

Earlier in the morning, Tara had set off to Evetta Niall's house, telling Sirius cheerfully,

"And I'll see you and James at Diagon Alley, or at _least_ on the Hogwarts Express!"

Then she had kissed him brusquely, and he wrapped his arms around her and forced her to make it more passionate until they both pulled away, laughing.

Oh, Tara.

As he relaxed in the swimming hole with James, killing time until Remus and Peter turned up, Sirius felt supremely refreshed.

"So are you going to get back together with Savannah, mate?" James asked idly from where he was floating beneath an overhanging tree.

Sirius shrugged, feeling the water move on either side of him. "I'm not sure yet."

James stared up through the branches above him. "I _really_ hope this is my year… you know, with Lily."

Sirius smiled slightly, though he knew James was not looking at him. "It will be, mate. I have faith."

James sighed audibly. "Yeah..." He trailed off for a moment, and then continued, "…And what about Moony, man? And Peter? They need girls, too!"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "You got that right." He grinned. "Maybe I should just step out of the rink this year and set the two of them up with girls instead… y'know, put my expertise to the test."

James laughed, too. "You could _never_ manage to stay out of 'the rink' all year, and you know it."

Sirius snorted indignantly. "Well, fine! I can see when I'm not trusted."

James grinned. "Of course." Then he sounded more serious. "Did Annie really say she was going to make Lily come shopping with us?"

Sirius nodded, though he was floating on his back at this point so it didn't really matter how he moved his head. "Yeah, man, she did." He smiled a bit. "Don't stress over it; she'll absolutely _love _you. Just… I don't know, act like you've completely reformed over the summer, or something."

James laughed. "Reformed! You don't think me reformed enough?"

Sirius laughed too. "No, mate; of course _I _see your inner goodness; it's just that _she_… well, quite honestly, is a bit thick." He shook his head. "Why didn't you pick somebody _smart_ to obsess over?"

James chuckled, but then sighed and was quiet.

-

Sirius, James, Peter and Remus were playing a drinking game and downing shots of rum. The game involved wizard's chess; every time a piece was taken (it was Sirius and Remus to one side, James and Peter to the other) the player in question had to take a shot. Of course, everybody wanted to drink so it was more a contest of how long one could _avoid_ taking any other pieces while still having as many of one's own pieces taken as possible.

They were in James's room, sitting in a circle on his bed. Tomorrow morning they would be taking the Flu to Diagon Alley and all that that insinuated, but at the moment they were merely relaxing after a week's fun at Thestrel's Perch.

They had heard about Remus's bland summer ("I hate France" had been his summary of the past two months); they had heard about Peter's slightly more interesting summer ("And _then_ it turned out my cousin's best friend from Lancashire was _also_ going to be in Amsterdam, and _then_ she turned out to be gorgeous, and _then_ we ended up snogging up in the Oude Kerk tower" had been the bulk of his summary); they – well, Remus, Peter and James – had debated the morality of Sirius's situation with Tara Nevan; they had mused over what romantic fodder the coming year would bring; they had swum, eaten, slept, flown, explored the Heathland as Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, with Remus flying overhead on a broomstick; and in general reunited and had an excellent time.

As often happened when the four of them were tipsy, James, Sirius and Peter started bugging Remus about his love life – for indeed, Remus rarely had a girlfriend (though he had admittedly had plenty of crushes). There had been that stint with Brynn Merwyn last autumn, and his short, sweet, chaste relationship with Savannah Baron when they had been – what, thirteen? They had never kissed, never hugged, and had only _allegedly_ held hands one night in the common room. Then they had drifted apart because they were both too embarrassed to be seen together.

That Savannah Baron… she sure did work her way through Marauders.

"There must be _some_ girl, _somewhere_ who will have you!" Sirius said amicably.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh do tell."

Sirius grinned. "Well, take Inessa Barrington, for example! She would have _loved_ to date you – but no! For whatever reason, you 'weren't interested!'"

James heaved a great sigh, as if at the waste of it all.

Remus laughed and rolled his eyes again. "And then two days later she got drunk and hooked up with _you_!"

Sirius brushed this accusation aside with a wave of his hand. "So what? She still liked you; I just happened to be drunk at the same time and very in the mood to snog!" He shook his head in mock pity. "_Gosh_, Remus! Inessa Barrington is a very pretty girl! And it probably took half of her self-resolve just to let word get out that she was into you, and _still_ you didn't go and take advantage of the situation!"

Remus laughed again. "We have nothing in common!"

James waved that aside. "Like it matters! She figures you as a sweet, smart, sensitive little boy–" and here James winked at him cheekily "–and mighty attractive, too! Cripes, Moony – what more do you want?"

Remus laughed a third time. Actually, by this point he had flopped back onto James's bed and was giggling hysterically. He was clearly quite tipsy.

Sirius joined in, finally gasping out, "She's _still_ into you, Moony – I'm sure of it! We'll set the two of you up this year, what d'you say?"

Remus shook his head, still quivering slightly in laughter. "But I… don't… _like_ Inessa!" he gasped.

Peter giggled, but only slightly; he was evidently the most sober. "Why ever not, mate?"

Remus shrugged and did not answer. Actually, he had admitted to liking Inessa Barrington – to a certain extent, anyway – back when she had openly been interested in him. But still, Remus would not allow himself to get into a committed relationship. At the time, Sirius hadn't been sure if Remus's hesitancy had sprung from embarrassment over his lycanthropy, discomfort over his introverted nature, or emotional scarring from having been dumped by Brynn Merwyn. At any rate, after Sirius had hooked up with Inessa, the matter had been dropped.

Sometimes Sirius wished there were more Gryffindor girls in his year. He frequently felt that Astrid Kierkegaard's transfer to that Norwegian school all those years ago had been the biggest injustice of the century.

Currently, apart from Savannah and Lily, there was Vivian Briar, who was a bit heavy, had bouncy ringlets of blonde hair and a cute, turned-up nose, and spent much of her time obsessing over Divination, her favorite subject.

There was also the hauntingly beautiful Isolde O'Connor, whom Sirius had twice hooked up with – and man, had that been awkward afterward – who read romantic novels and only dated older boys. Isolde was tall and slender, had a wavy mane of loose dark hair, a narrow, finely-featured face, and large blue eyes. Her skin was pale white, and the blue of her veins stood out distinctly on her wrists and the backs of her hands. Sirius had been so fond of looking at her that he had half expected hooking up – both times had been in fifth year while Isolde was between seventh-year boyfriends – to be equally enjoyable.

Alas, Isolde was, in Sirius's opinion, "Pretty fucking crazy." He and Savannah had often cheerfully discussed how weird she was; though Isolde got along well enough with her roommates, she often snuck down to Hogsmeade on weekends to spend time with her latest 20-something boyfriend. Savannah had told Sirius that she was pretty sure Isolde was into weird sex stuff too.

Ohhh Isolde O'Connor…

"You could get with Isolde, if you grew a few years older and were into Tantric sex," Sirius suggested to Remus, who burst out laughing; normally he would frown slightly at Sirius for making fun of Isolde, but when he was drunk Remus was just as big a dick as the rest of them.

"Have you ever hooked up with Vivian, Sirius?" Peter chirped curiously, clearly also thinking over the four Gryffindor girls in their year.

Sirius frowned and shook his head. Then he grinned. "Never got the chance," he explained, grinning still more broadly. "She's always up in that damn Divination tower… I'd be up for it, though; you know what they say, 'more to love…'"

It was true; hooking up with Vivian Briar could potentially be loads of fun. She had dated an older Ravenclaw boy (Sirius didn't really know him, but from afar he had gauged that the lad was tall, gangly, studious, wore large rectangular glasses, and frequently doted upon Vivian and waited at her beck and call, the lucky girl) for a good seven months. Thus, Sirius reckoned that Vivian had plenty of experience.

Meanwhile, James was laughing. Then, suddenly, he pouted. "I want Lily, damn it!"

Sirius rolled his eyes and Remus, far too drunk by this point, burst out laughing again.

"You'll be with her soon, Prongs," Peter reassured him kindly, patting James soothingly on the arm. "Don't worry."

-

"The Leaky Cauldron!"

Sirius stepped into the fireplace and felt the pleasant warmth of the flames swirling around him as he was whisked up the Flu toward London.

He stepped out of the grate in the Leaky Cauldron's side parlor, dusting himself off and stepping nimbly to one side to avoid knocking into Peter and Remus, who had already arrived. James came stumbling out of the fireplace a few moments later, coughing a bit on some ash and fanning the air.

"Have a nice trip, mate?" Sirius asked earnestly as Peter chuckled.

James grinned sarcastically as he wiped off his glasses and brushed soot off his jeans. "Oh, terrific."

Sirius barked out a laugh.

"Well, let's get a move on," Remus said, glancing at his watch and ignoring his friends' antics. "We told the girls we'd meet them ten minutes ago."

Together, the crossed the parlor and entered the Leaky Cauldron's central dining room.

Sirius spotted Savannah and Lily at once; they were sitting on the far side of the bar counter, swilling iced drinks and watching the clock in aggravation. Savannah had tied a brown ribbon in her golden-blonde hair, which was streaked with sun highlights, no doubt from her summer on the Mediterranean. She looked as pleasantly attractive as Sirius remembered, albeit a bit more tan. Lily's pretty auburn hair was plaited in a French braid, and for some reason she looked more beautiful than Sirius had ever bothered noticing. He wasn't sure if this was because Lily had put additional effort into her appearance in order to drive James even crazier – indeed, this seemed the type of a thing a girl would do – or if the summer sun had enhanced her generally pale complexion, but for a moment Sirius immensely regretted that Lily did not have a twin sister.

Savannah spotted him and grinned, though Lily looked put out, presumably because she was inherently opposed to this shopping excursion.

"Hey, you lot! Way to be on time!" Savannah had stood up and dragged a reluctant Lily toward them.

"Well, why were you so damn early?" Sirius retorted, coming up to Savannah and giving her a warm hug – no kisses yet; he still hadn't decided where he wanted to steer their relationship.

Savannah hugged James, Remus and Peter as well; James turned to Lily and asked, "Hug for me as well, Lily?"

Lily rolled her eyes and smiled slightly, evidently not in too bad a mood after all.

"I don't do hugs," she replied pleasantly.

James pouted exaggeratedly and Sirius observed, "Well if _that's_ not a crying shame, I don't know what is."

Savannah giggled and shoved him in the arm; Sirius smiled at her and linked his arm through hers serenely.

"Hey Lily, are you Head Girl?" James asked suddenly, grinning in anticipation.

Lily stared at him, her mouth open in shock as she read his expression. "_You're_ Head Boy? What, did your parents donate a lot of gold to the school, or something?"

James grinned still more broadly. "Not to my knowledge, and why, yes I am!"

Lily suddenly burst out laughing. She shook her head for about thirty seconds and finally said, "Well, congratulations, I guess." She laughed again at the irony of it all. "We'll have a… fun year, I'm sure," she said consolingly.

Savannah was grinning, and Sirius couldn't help but join in.

"Oh, stop that!" Lily insisted, rounding on them.

James was grinning more broadly than any of them. Sirius decided this was taking too long.

He cleared his throat. "Well ladies? Are we shopping or are we shopping?"

James nodded seriously, snapping out of it at once. "Oh, we're shopping all right." He linked his arm through Remus's.

Lily smiled again and turned to Peter expectantly; he laughed and offered her his arm, causing James to groan under his breath at the wasted opportunity as the six of them left the dining room and headed into the back courtyard toward the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Sirius rolled his eyes and kicked James discreetly, causing Savannah to giggle again. "I missed you!" she whispered in Sirius's ear.

He smiled. "Who wouldn't?"

She giggled a third time and shoved him playfully; Sirius stood up straighter than usual and pretended to ignore her before grinning at her and shoving her back.

"I guess I _sort_ of missed you too…"

This wasn't entirely true; he had missed Claire Delacour one hell of a lot, but other than that, his missing of girls had been minimal. Sirius supposed the closest he had come to missing Savannah had been the brief moments of envy at her summer excursions he had experienced while reading her letters from Italy.

But as always, there was no reason to tell any girl that.

"_Sort_ of?" Savannah demanded, glaring at him with her dark eyes and attempting to sound as indignant as possible.

Sirius gave her an exaggeratedly sincere look. "Well, if you must know, I sobbed myself to sleep every night." He brought a hand up and traced a finger down one cheek to simulate the path of a tear.

Savannah nodded. "_That's_ what I like to hear!"

Sirius barked out a laugh, and they smiled at each other for a few moments. The ambiguity was so awkward.

Sirius laughed internally. What an excellent situation this was! He knew he could steer it in whatever direction he chose; Savannah would just hang on for the ride.

Meanwhile, they had entered Diagon Alley and were walking along the cobblestone street between the shops and buildings.

"What have you been doing all summer, Lily?" James asked politely. He had since dropped Remus's arm – indeed, Sirius and Savannah were now the only pair still walking together – and was edging toward Lily hopefully.

She ignored his gesture and replied pleasantly, "Spent time with my family, went to France, went to London…"

"I hate France!" Remus interjected helpfully.

Lily laughed. "Really?"

Remus nodded sincerely. "Uh huh. Worst country ever."

Lily laughed again. "Well, I had fun, somehow."

James jumped in quickly. "Yeah, I like France. I don't know what Moony's on."

Remus grinned. "Oh, you know me and those Muggle drugs..."

Peter smiled and turned to Lily from the other side. "Crazy boy, that Remus," he remarked.

Lily grinned prettily and nodded.

James watched her for a few moments and then turned away. He seemed to be having difficulty breathing. He swallowed repeatedly and continued to walk stiffly down the alleyway, staring determinedly ahead of him. Lily turned toward Savannah and – so discreetly that Sirius almost thought he had imagined it – winked.

He skidded to a stop; the rest of the party walked on casually as Savannah turned to him and smiled innocently. "What?"

Sirius frowned at her, though inside he was rather amused – and, indeed, somewhat impressed.

"What are you trying to pull on my boy Jamie?" he demanded.

Savannah grinned. "Heh… nothing."

Sirius felt his mouth twitch slightly, but he fought hard to avoid full-out smiling. "What, is Lily into him now, or something?"

Savannah glanced from side to side in feigned guilt, and then shook her head, smiled broadly at Sirius and leaning close whispered, "Okay, so… I've been telling Lily all about how James is all reformed and what-not now, yeah? Because let's face it – you and me, James and her? It'd be so much fun!"

Sirius smiled slightly; it could indeed be a lot of fun.

Savannah was still talking quickly. "Lily's still pretty off him," she confessed, "but then I told her she just _had_ to come shopping with us, and she was still kind of against it, but then I said, 'Lily, at the very least, make him know what he's missing out on!'"

Sirius grinned despite himself. "Is that why she looks so damn hot?" he asked, craning his neck up to get a glance of Lily farther up the road.

Savannah giggled. "Yep! It's working pretty well, don't you think?"

Sirius rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "Girls are so mean. All you lot ever do is try to manipulate people into lusting after you."

Savannah grinned. "Pretty much."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Well, I _am _in favor of James getting with Lily; being his sole other romantic interest myself, the constant demand for pity-sex is getting tiring."

Savannah laughed and shook her head at him; he grinned and gallantly tightened his grip on her arm, leading them on down the street.

-

They were at Florian Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, folding chairs crammed around a small outdoor table. As Sirius stole a bite of Savannah's strawberry sundae, prompting her to shout, "Hey!" and bat at his arm with her free hand, he noticed a good-looking boy standing on the other side of the patio – Regulus, his little brother.

Regulus had just arrived with a few of his friends; they were loitering around a table at which several seventh-year Slytherins were sitting. In the farthest chair sat Severus Snape, looking pale and out of place and awkward, clearly wanting to be somewhere else. To his left perched Kelly Drake, tanned and unremarkable, laughing wildly at some immense joke, and on his right, Evan Rosier, smiling at Kelly's reaction to the joke and looking darkly freckled and muscular. Rabastan Lestrange, sinister and brooding, as always, was trying to catch the eye of the girl sitting opposite him. Audrey Granada, curtly avoiding Lestrange's gaze, was smiling pleasantly at Regulus, that pimp. Two other girls Sirius did not know, both also from Slytherin, were gossiping loudly to one another.

Sirius found himself oddly transfixed by Regulus. People had always said it, and now Sirius himself could see it: Regulus looked an awful lot like him. Though Regulus's eyes were dark brown rather than silvery gray, he had the same regal nose, the same strong chin. And he clearly had an appreciable charm with the ladies; Audrey Granada was now laughing at something he had said and tugging idly at a strand of her hair, which was longer than Sirius had remembered it – where before her hair had fanned out stylishly at her chin, it now brushed her shoulders.

"Oh, joy," James, who had just noticed the Slytherins as well, muttered sarcastically, sliding back his chair as if in preparation to stand. He pointed toward the table across the patio. "It's Snape."

Lily looked up sharply from her sundae and gave James a condescending look. "Oh, please."

James winced slightly, but lowered himself back into his seat. Sirius glanced from James to Snape and back again; Snape had clearly noticed James as well. He was glaring at him with the utmost loathing.

Savannah inhaled sharply and glanced at Lily; the two must have exchanged some secret girl message, for they both laughed lightly and then continued to eat their ice cream.

Girls…

Sirius rolled his eyes and turned back toward the Slytherins. He accidentally caught Regulus's eye for a moment, but then shifted his gaze. Snape was rigid; Rosier and Lestrange were glaring; the two anonymous Slytherin girls were looking on eagerly; and Kelly Drake was on the edge of her seat in anticipation. Only Audrey Granada looked bored and unconcerned. A moment later, Regulus jerked his head and he and his fifth-year friends melted away into the crowd.

Sirius cleared his throat and turned to look at James, who was glaring back at Snape despite Lily's condescension. Personally, Sirius was all for sending a few hexes toward the Slytherins – they were all of age now, after all, and could use magic outside of school without penalty.

Peter, too, looked eager, but Remus winced and prompted, "C'mon, we probably should go."

James nodded uncomfortably, breaking Snape's gaze to look at Remus. "Yeah," he choked out, glancing quickly at Lily as if in need of her support. She smiled at him approvingly and he grinned.

As the six of them moved away from Florian Fortescue's, leftover ice cream left to melt on the table, Sirius glanced back. The Slytherins were jeering now, the girls shrieking with laughter and the boys chuckling – all except Audrey Granada, who smiled, shook her head, and caught Sirius's eye for a moment.

He pretended not to notice. She could flirt with his brother, sure, but there was no way he was going to let her make a game of pulling that shit on him.

-

Sirius lazily stretched an arm across the back of Savannah's chair. It was suppertime and James had suggested that everybody stay to eat at the Leaky Cauldron before Fluing home.

Lily and was sitting beside James – she had politely concealed her chagrin when they had first reached their table – and talking animatedly to Remus while James offered helpful comments and tried to be witty.

Actually, he was doing a fairly good job of it. James had often lamented to Sirius that he grew too self conscious and so lost his sense of humor whenever he was around Lily, but she had been surprisingly nice to him all day, and his confidence level betrayed it.

In the back of his mind, Sirius was mildly worried that James was going to get over-confident and say something to ruin the magic. What was really dominating his thoughts, however, was a strong interest in hooking up with Savannah Baron. Shopping had been entertaining, as he had known it would be, but Sirius's greatest gleaning from the perusal of store after store had been how incredibly down he still was for her.

He trailed one finger down her far arm gently, and Savannah turned to look at him, smiling.

Sirius smiled broadly back at her. She was so pretty, with her long bangs brushed out of her eyes and that brown silk ribbon in her blonde hair. Her eyes were as warm as he remembered, her dark eyebrows and sharp nose contrasting with her light hair in that way he had always loved.

Sirius raised one eyebrow at her as if in suggestion, and she giggled and raised both of her eyebrows inquisitively. He coughed slightly and stood up. "If you all don't mind, I'm going excuse myself for a moment."

As he strolled out of the dining room and around the corner of the bar toward the stairwell, he wondered how long he would have to wait before Savannah caught on.

He didn't have to wait very long. A few moments later, Savannah came stumbling through the doorframe, shaking her head and laughing at his brazenness. Sirius grinned, grabbed her by the hips, and kissed her fully. As he slid his tongue into her mouth, Sirius recalled happily that Savannah was a way better kisser than Tara.

But then again, go figure.

They stood in the middle of the tiny, cramped hallway at the base of the staircase, kissing one another passionately, for several moments. It all felt very familiar and comforting. Sirius trailed one hand around to the base of Savannah's back and then trailed it back to her hipbone. She ran her fingers through his hair and couldn't help but smile through the kissing.

Eventually they both pulled back. "You're pretty discreet," Savannah giggled, referring to his absurdly blatant manner of leaving the dinner table.

Sirius shrugged, and grinned at her despite himself. "Well, I had to get you alone _some_how…"

Savannah leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. Then she looked up into his gray eyes searchingly.

She took a deep breath, and then said quickly, "Um… I kind of got with like four different guys in Italy… well, six, if you count that last night. Do you mind?"

Sirius laughed easily and shook his head. "Don't worry about it." He hesitated for a moment, and then, figuring – what the hell? – he had to spill this some time, he put on an expression of wincing remorse and said, "Actually, I kind of got drunk and hooked up with Tara Nevan."

Savannah raised her eyebrows for a moment, but then she smiled acceptingly. "So I guess we're both whores!"

Sirius grinned at her. "Guess so."

Savannah then frowned a bit. "Tara Nevan, though?" she repeated. "I thought you hated her."

Sirius shrugged. "I never hated her, I just… thought she was really annoying." Then he looked into Savannah's dark eyes and pouted out his lower lip. "Oh, come on, Annie; she was the only girl for miles and, what with your letters from Italy hinting at how much I was missing out on, how could I resist?"

Savannah grinned despite herself. "I hope you didn't break her heart, Sirius."

Sirius pretended to look affronted. "Who, _me_?"

Savannah giggled and Sirius, refusing to feel guilty, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again. _Didn't_ break Tara's heart… well, technically, he hadn't broken it _yet_.

-

They were at King's Cross, about to board the Hogwarts Express. Sirius lugged his trunk onto the train behind James, who was looking chipper. "Bye, Mum! Bye, Dad! See you at Christmas!" he shouted over Sirius's head, turning around to face his parents, who were waving.

"See you, Mr. Potter… and you, Mrs. Potter," Sirius added sincerely, turning to face them. "Thanks for everything."

"Oh, it was no trouble, dear!" Mrs. Potter chirped.

Sirius grinned at her and continued to force his trunk onto the train.

Once inside, James veered off toward the Heads compartment, and Sirius followed Remus and Peter down the cars until they found an empty room for themselves. They had just finished stowing their trunks when the door slid open, revealing, not Savannah, who had promised to join him on the train while James and Lily were otherwise occupied, but Tara Nevan and Evetta Niall.

Groan.

"Hey!" Tara remarked cheerfully. She was wearing corduroy shorts and a white T-shirt. Her long hair hung loosely down her back and she looked as cute and semi-innocent as ever. Sirius almost felt guilty. One of these days he would have to break the news to her that they were most definitely not a couple.

Nevertheless, he smiled suavely. "Hey there."

Tara led Evetta into the compartment and kissed Sirius on the cheek, but not before he had given Evetta a complete double-take.

She had certainly gotten good-looking over the summer; sixteen was clearly a good age. Evetta Niall was taller now, with less acne and more bust. Her wavy ebony hair was no longer limp, but shiny, and shorter than it had been last spring. Her brown eyes, always pretty, were framed by a flattering, if largely unnoticeable, amount of liner and makeup, and she was wearing a cute red polo.

_I am _so_ going to tap that_, Sirius decided promptly. After all, he wasn't back together with Savannah yet; there was still time to have some fun.

"How's it going, Evie?" he asked pleasantly, at long last responding to her age-old wish for him to call her by her nickname, rather than by her surname.

She smiled at him hesitantly. "Great," she responded, sitting down next to Remus and leaning back against the seat cushion as Sirius sat down opposite.

"What did you do all summer?" Remus asked her.

Evetta smiled at him as well, clearly gaining confidence now. "Traveled a bit… hung around at home… saw relatives…"

Remus nodded. "Sounds fun."

As Evetta inquired into Remus's summer, prompting a lengthy rant against French tourism, Tara finished greeting Peter and whispered breathily in Sirius's ear, "Miss me?"

What was it with girls always assuming that he missed them?

"A little bit," he whispered back, quirking one side of his mouth into a smile.

Tara giggled. "Yeah, I haven't kissed anybody in weeks!"

Sirius forced himself to bark out a laugh. Ugh, he was already sick of Tara, and the train hadn't even left the station yet.

A moment later, Savannah slid the door of the compartment open, glancing from Sirius to Tara to Peter to Remus to Evetta Niall, then back to Sirius and Tara. Tara looked from Savannah to Sirius and leaned unconsciously toward Sirius in an inadvertent demonstration of possession.

Savannah hesitated for a moment, the cogs turning in her head. Sirius considered that maybe he should have mentioned to her earlier that he had been getting with Tara all summer, rather than just during one drunken night. But Savannah was a smart girl; evidently sick of thinking, she caught his eye and asked, "Room for one more?"

Sirius smiled at her in an attempt to be consoling. Oh _man_, was this going to be awkward! He was getting apprehensively excited just thinking about it. _Tara or Savannah, Tara or Savannah, Tara or Savannah?_ _Hell – or Evetta! _He grinned internally at the potential torment of it all.

"There always is," he said, trying not to sound resigned, as he beckoned Savannah into the compartment with a sweep of his hand.

Tara watched as Savannah entered the room and sat down on Remus's other side. She exhaled loudly and turned to Sirius as if demanding an explanation.

Sirius closed his eyes for a moment, visualizing the situation:

Across from him sat Evetta Niall, the girl he had just now resolved to hook up with. Two seats over sat Savannah Baron, the girl he had hooked up with only last night and with whom he was still in ambiguous boyfriend-girlfriend waters. On his left sat Tara Nevan, the girl he had spent the last two months corrupting, snogging, and in general leading to incorrect assumptions regarding his devotion level.

All three of them were seated within a few feet of one other in the same compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

As Remus and Peter glanced at one another apprehensively, Sirius grinned. This would make a good story some day.

---

A/N: Wow! I was going to keep going, but I generally upload at about 100 KB, so I figured I'd just end it here. Who do _you_ think he should choose?

Reviews for the last chapter!

Cat Wood – I did!

Potpoury – Thank you!

MaraudingChick – I dunno, I was thinking I'd make it keep going through the end of seventh year, but we'll see. Eventually he's going to end up with just one girl (guess who?), and then the months/story will speed along by. It'll all end with an epilogue saying what all the girls mentioned in the story were doing when they heard Sirius got taken to prison, or something along those lines.

Lainia26 – Thanks!

dixio – Thank you!

beckers123 – Thank you!

tulips car – Thank you!

...And thanks to those of you who reviewed other chapters, too!

**Review, please.**

Much Love, Simone


	9. Torment and Temptation

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **M ;)

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

A/N: I just got back from Europe, and in the midst of massive jetlag I decided to update this story!

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Chapter Nine

_Torment and Temptation_

The train ride proved immeasurably awkward. Savannah Baron was trying to appear cool, collected and indifferent; Tara Nevan was growing increasingly close to throwing her arms around Sirius in a crystal clear reaffirmation of ownership; and Evetta Niall was proving very easy on the eyes. Remus and Peter attempted to alleviate the tension by making light jokes and talking animatedly to each girl in turn.

"So, Tara! Still riding those horses?" Peter asked hesitantly.

Tara nodded distractedly, inclining her body away from Sirius's to look Peter in the face for one brief moment.

Remus winced. "Um… think James will be Quidditch captain this year, Annie?"

Savannah met his gaze coolly. "Yes, I do think so."

Sirius couldn't help but be tremendously amused by it all. At one point, he caught Evetta Niall's eye, and couldn't help but give off a ghost of a grin. She smiled back, clearly not fully understanding what was going on.

Amidst all this, James and Lily returned from Head duties, talking loudly and obliviously.

"I cannot _believe_ you made that joke!" Lily was reprimanding, barely-concealed laughter hanging on her every word. "It was _disgusting_! We want the new Prefects to _respect_ us!"

James laughed heartily. "They will, I swear!"

The compartment door slid open with a loud bang, and everyone looked up expectantly.

"Oh hello, you lot!" Lily said pleasantly, her eyes drifting about the compartment and lingering on Tara and Sirius. Her smile fell slightly as she glanced at Savannah and raised one eyebrow.

James came in behind her, utterly oblivious. "Hello! Moony, you missed our instructional meeting for the junior Prefects… good thing you're a senior."

Remus smiled slightly. "Good thing."

"Well _hell_o, Evetta!" James chirped cheerfully, turning away from Remus and taking in the occupants of the compartment for the first time. "_And _Annie… _and _dear Tara…"

Tara raised her eyebrows at him. "Hello, Jamie," she replied nonchalantly.

Lily was now standing in the doorway, her arms crossed, making it clear that she was perfectly aware of the current situation. She and Savannah were looking at one other and exchanging some imperceptible girl message. Then, with a start, Savannah stood up.

"Lily and I are going to go find another compartment, if any of you lot want to come," she said, refusing to look at Sirius. With a very fake smile, she said, "It's getting a bit crowded in here…"

James looked at Lily, perplexed. "Oh, don't go _leaving_, Lils! We only just _got_ here!"

Lily smiled wryly, her green eyes bright, her pretty red hair tied into a half-pony tail and hanging smoothly over each shoulder.

"We need to have some girl time," Lily replied frankly.

Savannah nodded in agreement and ran a hand through her hair, brushing her long bangs out of her dark eyes. As she walked past him, Savannah raised her eyebrows at Sirius in a mixture of bemusement and disappointment. He wasn't quite sure what to do, so he smiled back. Savannah rolled her eyes.

James frowned as the two girls left the compartment. Then he glanced back around at the remaining occupants, and finally, realization hit. He fought hard to conceal a grin as he caught Sirius's eye and shook his head with a look that said quite plainly, "You are so fucked, man."

Sirius tried very hard not to grin back. He _so_ did not care.

-

Dinner would have been awkward as well, had Sirius not chosen to blatantly ignore Tara and Savannah both – if he ignored the situation long enough, they would be forced to come talk to him on their own terms.

In the meantime, Sirius flirted with Evetta Niall.

"So Evie, where did you travel this summer?"

Evetta smiled again at the use of her nickname. "Well, my family stayed in a resort on the Costa del Sol for a while. My grandparents and a few cousins came down to visit–"

"How many cousins do you have?" Sirius cut in. He knew that girls loved to talk about themselves; if he was going to hook up with Evetta before solving the situation with Savannah and Tara, he needed to play to this fact.

"Oh, I have quite a few," Evetta replied, taking a bite of shepherd's pie and smiling at him, her pretty brown eyes wide and sparkling, "but most are a bit older. The two that came down to stay with us are my Muggle cousins from Kerry, one's your age and the other is a few years younger… and what about you, Sirius?"

She had a slight brogue. Very County Cork. It was sweet and endearing. He especially liked how she pronounced his name.

"You lived in Cork, didn't you?" he asked, ignoring her question.

Evetta nodded. "I did, but we moved over to England when I was nine."

Sirius smiled. "You have siblings, Evie?"

She nodded. "I do. Younger sister – she's a second year. Ravenclaw."

Next to Evetta, Tara was watching the conversation and pointedly trying to catch Sirius's eye. "Have you met Evie's family, Sirius?" she put in. "Her mum's been to the manor before…"

Sirius shook his head and avoided looking at Tara. "Can't say that I have."

Tara said nothing for a moment; then she looked down at her plate with a slight huff.

Evetta seemed oblivious to Tara's discomfort – or maybe she was just overwhelmed by the fact that Sirius seemed so interested in her life.

"And what did _you_ do this summer, Sirius?" she asked eagerly, taking another bite of pie and glancing at Tara for a brief moment – no doubt she knew about their escapades.

Sirius shrugged as he reached for a basket of sourdough rolls. "Hung around. But anyway, Evie, what classes are you taking this year? N.E.W.T.s over, then?"

She nodded and proceeded to talk about herself again. Sirius scarcely broke his gaze from her brown eyes the entire meal.

So _what _if this was incredibly sleazy? Evetta was looking extremely well-kept and polished – read: hot – and Tara should have figured out by now that she and Sirius were obviously not a couple.

A short way down the table, Savannah talked animatedly to Lily, Peter, James and Remus. Sirius chose to ignore her.

-

On the way to Arithmancy the next morning, Sirius felt exceptionally optimistic about the day's potential. He had eaten breakfast across from Evetta again, and was almost completely positive that she was now entirely down for him. Indeed, as he had surveyed her that morning – freshly showered, hair pulled back in a wavy black ponytail and pretty jeweled earrings dangling at her ears – he had wondered why it had taken her so damn long to realize her true attractiveness potential.

Sirius had then swept his hair out of his eyes and said, "You look very pretty this morning, Evie."

She had blushed prettily and grinned; most boys were not so forward.

"Well… you look very nice yourself, Sirius."

He brushed that aside with a wave of his hand. "Well, I _did_ wake up early to apply perfume and give myself a manicure…" Next to him, Remus rolled his eyes over the top of the _Daily Prophet _he was perusing, but Evetta giggled. She had a very cute giggle.

"So _that's_ what happened to my perfume," James remarked, sitting down on Sirius's other side and pretending to glare at him. "Why… you little _bitch!_"

Sirius grinned at him. As always, James understood his intentions perfectly.

The night before, everybody had been too tired to talk much, but Remus had managed to remark, "Man, that was one awkward train ride!"

James had chuckled. "Whatever; you'll work it out, Padfoot!"

Sirius had nodded in agreement. "Of course!" Then he frowned and clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Have faith, Moony."

James nodded as well. "Lily's talking to me now! Isn't it wonderful?"

Peter laughed, but Remus winced. "That's brilliant, Prongs… but Sirius, don't do anything stupid… I mean, no offense, but I thought you liked Annie, and now here you are all over Evetta Niall…"

Peter chuckled. "And did you ever actually end the thing with Tara, mate?"

Sirius had shrugged, and then grinned unconcernedly. "I do like Annie. I mean, I guess I do. But… look, whatever, it'll all work out eventually, right?"

Remus winced again. "If you say so…"

James laughed jovially. "Of _course_ it'll work out! Anyway, let's go to bed… plenty of time to talk tomorrow."

They hadn't gotten around to talking yet, though, because Peter didn't have Arithmancy first thing in the morning and James had woken up late.

As he continued to flirt with Evetta, Sirius caught sight of Savannah and Lily, seated a ways farther down the table. He did not, however, see Tara.

"Where's Tara?" he asked Evetta when Tara's name came up amidst a discussion of dorm mates.

"She doesn't have a class first thing in the morning today… sleeping in, last I checked," Evetta replied.

Sirius nodded in approval. "I love that," he said seriously.

Out of the corner of one eye, he caught sight of James raising an eyebrow bemusedly; evidently he was being too obvious about his intentions.

Down the table, Sirius noted that Savannah was pointedly avoiding looking at him. Lily, however, kept glancing at him, and Sirius could not figure out why.

Then, on the way up to Arithmancy, having walked Evetta part of the way to Herbology after telling James and Remus he would catch up to them later, Sirius felt a tap on his shoulder.

He whirled around to find Lily Evans staring at him with her green eyes, her eyebrows raised. "A word, Sirius?"

Sirius quirked one eyebrow at her, already guessing what this was about.

_Girls…_

"I suppose so, Lily, but make it quick," he said primly. "I don't want us _both_ to be late on our first day of class…"

Lily nodded seriously and steered him by the arm into an empty classroom, closing the door behind her.

"Look, Lily, I'd love to snog you, but I don't think James would approve," Sirius said bluntly, attempted not to grin as he patted her on the shoulder consolingly.

Lily was not amused; she rolled her eyes and said, "Sirius, you have _got_ to stop this."

He raised one eyebrow at her again and dropped his hand back to his side. "Stop what?"

He knew, of course; he was just playing dumb because that was what one did in these situations.

"Stop treating Annie like shit! Look–" and here Lily took a step closer so as to glare into his gray eyes more acutely "–she really likes you, and I _know_ you like her, unless you've suffered some sort of brain damage between two days ago and today, and I just think you need to consider what you're putting her through!"

Sirius waved one hand carelessly. He could understand why James liked Lily so much; it was so sexy when attractive girls got all riled up and started shouting at him. Lily's cheeks were turning slightly pink and her green eyes were brighter than ever. Her auburn hair framed her face pleasantly. If only she would start lapsing into French, she would be almost as irresistible as Claire Delacour.

"Sirius!" Lily pointed a finger at him threateningly. "It's bad enough that you treat all those other girls like shit, but I am _not_ going to let you do that to one of my best friends!"

Sirius frowned at her. "I don't treat girls like shit!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't start, Sirius! You date these girls and then you ignore them, you get with other girls, you break their hearts… _nobody_ deserves that! And Savannah _definitely_ doesn't deserve that!"

Sirius huffed loudly to show that he was mildly annoyed and sat down on the desk behind him. "Lily, Savannah and I are broken up! I can do whatever the hell I want until we're back together."

Lily threw her hands in the air. "You're unbelievable, Sirius! If you cared about Annie at all, no _way _would you be treating her this way! Did you know that last night she was in tears over how you were acting on the train?" She took a breath and then continued, "And _Tara Nevan_, Sirius? What the hell are you trying to pull there? Annie told me you hooked up with her once but I swear you must've done it all summer judging by how distraught _she_ looked!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, even though Lily had a valid point. "I don't like Tara," he said tiredly. "She's just hung up over me. I like Savannah, honest." He stared back at Lily now. "But I'm not _dating_ Savannah, and as long as that's the case, I don't see what the issue is."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "Sirius, don't you _dare_ try to act like you're an idiot. I _know_ you're a smart boy. Why don't you just think for a change about how Annie must feel, knowing you're going to end up together but realizing she's not worth enough to you for you to _end_ this stupid bullshit with Tara and get back together with her already?"

Sirius shrugged. "Tara knows we're through."

Lily huffed angrily. "She does _not_! You need to tell her it's over, Sirius, and the longer you put it off, the worse it'll be!"

Sirius was mildly surprised that Lily was angry about Tara, rather than about Evetta. But then again, he hadn't done anything with Evetta yet; odds were Lily wasn't aware of that aspect of the situation.

"Okay, okay," he muttered, deciding that Lily had a somewhat valid point: it was probably a good idea to officially end things with Tara before hooking up with Evetta.

Lily was still glaring at him. "I don't understand how you and James think this is funny. Maybe _that's_ his problem, that he spends too much time with _you_…"

"Hey!" Now Sirius was insulted – but only for James; he had had plenty of girls yell plenty of similar expletives at him in the past, and didn't consider it something to take to heart. "Don't go ranting against Jamie! I'm the arse, honest! He's a really great guy–" and here Sirius winked cheekily at Lily "–as you would know if you'd just _date_ him already."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Sirius, we both know that neither you nor James knows _anything_ about love."

Now Sirius was very insulted – but again only for James; he had heard that quip about his own inability to love many times before. "James knows _plenty_ about love! He loves you, Lily… though I can't understand why, considering what a whiny little bitch you're being…"

Whoops. He shouldn't have said that; Lily's eyes filled with tears.

"Fuck you, Sirius! You know absolutely _nothing_ about love!" She turned on her heel and was about to storm out of the room when Sirius, suddenly feeling terrible – he had made plenty of girls cry, but never because he called them cruel (if accurate!) names – grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Wait! Lily, I'm… I'm sorry. You're not… you're not a whiny little bitch."

The bell signaling the start of class rang, but they both ignored it as Lily glared back at him, her eyes still red with hurt. "You _do_ realize that every girl at this school is too good for you, right, Sirius? I don't understand how _any_ of them can be attracted to you, you're such a stuck-up prick…"

Sirius rolled his eyes; he'd heard all this before – though granted, it was usually from a girl he'd just broken up with or cheated on. "Lily, you know so little about me, I don't think you have a right to say _anything_," he stated tiredly.

Lily rolled her eyes right back at him. "Don't play that card, Sirius. Actions speak louder than words, and what I've seen you do has betrayed plenty."

She was quick. Sirius liked that in a girl, and he once again commended James internally on his taste in women.

Now Lily spoke in a slightly gentler tone. "Sirius, I dragged you in here to warn you. I don't think you quite get it… I mean, honestly, have you ever truly cared about a girl?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her. He had definitely cared about Claire one hell of a lot, but he wasn't sure if Lily deserved to hear about that. Instead he gave her the vague reply of, "Well, yes, I have."

Lily looked curious. "Who?" she asked, sounding unnecessarily surprised; Sirius surveyed her haughtily.

"None of your business."

Lily frowned, and idly pulled her red hair back into a ponytail with her hands, securing it with an elastic band. "Well, not Annie, obviously," she said scathingly.

Sirius shrugged one shoulder. "Annie's nice, but there's no way we're ever going to move past that attractive-friends-who-like-hanging-out-and-hooking-up stage." He gave Lily a searching look. "You know?"

Lily raised one eyebrow at him. "Have you _ever_ moved beyond that stage, Sirius?" she asked disbelievingly.

Sirius quirked one corner of his mouth into a grin. "Why yes, I have."

Lily frowned again. "With whom?"

Sirius shrugged innocently and smiled at her. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, come off it, Sirius; if we're going to miss class to talk about how wrong you are you might as well spice it up with some names!"

Sirius frowned instead. "Have you ever cut class before?" he asked her.

Lily shook her head. "Never! But I suppose we may just be very late."

Sirius nodded fairly. "Well… seeing as I have absolutely no inclination to tell you anything…"

Lily rolled her eyes again. "Sirius, don't get me wrong, I think you're a nice guy… just… you really don't appreciate the damage you cause."

Sirius frowned. "And Lily, I think you're a nice girl, but you really don't appreciate how happy you would be with James." He smiled slightly. "I'll tell you what: you give James a chance, I'll get back together with Annie and stop being an insufferable prick."

Lily put her hands on her hips. "Are you _kidding_ me?"

Sirius shook his head and grinned at the incredulous look on her face. "Look, I know it completely betrays the purpose of your dragging me in here, but think of how much fun it could be!" Sirius swept his hair out of his eyes and gave her a sharp look. "Come on, Lily. Do it for Annie."

Lily snorted in disgust but then twitched one corner of her mouth into what was almost a smile and looked Sirius over thoughtfully. "If you stop being a prat_ first_, then maybe," she said at last.

Sirius grinned a bit; "maybe" generally meant "yes."

"Well, let's go to class, then!" he suggested cheerfully.

Lily rolled her eyes but then said, "Yes, let's." She followed him out of the room.

-

Arithmancy proved mildly noteworthy. When Sirius and Lily walked in late together, many eyes widened.

"Tardy on the first day? Five points each from Gryffindor, Mr. Black and Miss Evans," Professor Vector, their young teacher, said.

There were few seats left. Sirius found a spot off to the side of the classroom between Audrey Granada and Rabastan Lestrange, and Lily squeezed into the desk Savannah had saved for her.

A few minutes into class, Sirius caught sight of a note zooming along the floor. It came to a stop underneath his desk, and he instantly recognized James's handwriting.

_Where the bloody hell were you?_

Sirius leaned down to scratch his leg and picked up the piece of parchment casually. He wrote on the back,

_Your future wife was lecturing me about conduct with girls. Don't worry, I put in a good word._

Sirius let the note flutter back beneath his desk and then tapped it with his wand when Professor Vector's back was turned; it zoomed away toward James and Remus's desk.

As he glanced over his shoulder to catch James's eye as he read the note, Sirius noticed Audrey Granada watching him bemusedly. She had her elbow propped up on her desk and was leaning on her palm, twirling a strand of dark hair around her finger idly. She raised one eyebrow at Sirius, and he – unsure of what else to do – returned the gesture. Meanwhile, James read the note and, looking up at Sirius, flashed the thumbs up sign and a quick grin. Sirius grinned back.

Audrey smiled as he turned back to face front. Sirius wasn't sure why she kept paying attention to him – until Professor Vector announced that, "as mentioned at the start of class," their first project of the year would be completed with the person "sitting on one's left."

Well, shit.

Sirius turned to Audrey Granada, raising both of his eyebrows this time. She shrugged resignedly.

As the bell rang signaling the end of class, Sirius turned around and shouted to James and Remus, "You couldn't have saved me a seat?"

James shrugged, and said primly, "You were late for class, young man!"

Sirius turned back to glance at Audrey, who was now packing up her book bag. "Look here, Black," she said briskly as she tucked her dark hair behind her ears and stood up, "this is _not_ a big project. It'd be great if you could hold off being a prick and just complete the damn thing with me."

Sirius looked her full in the face. "Fine," he said shortly, turning on his heel and walking toward the door to meet his friends.

Savannah was talking to Lily and continued to avoid his gaze. Sirius felt a teensy bit bad; he still liked her quite a lot. She also looked uncharacteristically gorgeous today, no doubt in an attempt to make him regret the fact that he hadn't been talking to her. Savannah's blond hair was long and blown straight, her dark eyes were bright and shining, and her makeup must have been perfectly applied considering how healthy her skin looked.

But Sirius knew that as soon as he started talking to her, Savannah would come right back to him. He would spew some bullshit about the aggravating Tara Nevan and all of that, and then everything would be just peachy.

-

Sirius was surprised when Savannah came up to talk to him in the common room that evening; he had been expecting to have to initiate conversation himself.

He had been sitting next to Remus discussing potential plans for the next full moon, which would be arriving in two weeks.

"I don't know if it's safe to go into the village again," Remus was murmuring, pretending to scratch out and rewrite a line of the essay in front of him.

Sirius shrugged. "That was a fluke! It'll be fine this time, I swear!"

"Er… Sirius?"

He turned around to find Savannah, looking exceptionally put together, just as she had that morning in Arithmancy, standing by the far end of the couch. He gave her a quick glance over, taking in her black trousers, fitted red short-sleeved shirt, and long hair pulled back in a low ponytail.

That girl didn't cut corners when she wanted to impress.

"Yeah?" he asked her casually, looking her in the eye.

Savannah bit her lip for a moment, and then jerked her head pointedly toward the portrait hole. "Let's talk."

Sirius turned briefly to glance at Remus, who had looked up from his essay and was watching.

Remus nodded pointedly. "Go ahead," he said.

Sirius turned back to Savannah. "All right," he agreed, finding that his heart was pounding slightly. This conversation would certainly prove interesting.

They crossed the common room in silence and exited the portrait hole into the seventh floor corridor.

"Liking school so far?" Savannah asked hesitantly as they made their way to the right and up a staircase to the floor above; she seemed to know where they were going, and Sirius figured he'd just follow along.

"It's alright," he replied pleasantly.

Savannah nodded.

They walked on in silence some more. How awkward! Sirius was beginning to grow slightly sick of this. He liked Savannah a lot, but the awkwardness was distressingly cliché, and, to his mind, completely unnecessary. He was on the verge of breaking the silence with a blunt question about what she wanted to talk about, when Savannah spoke again.

"I hate this," she muttered.

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "What's that?"

Savannah looked over at him, and she suddenly looked so sad that Sirius almost wanted to forget the whole Evetta Niall thing and sweep Savannah up into his arms there in the corridor.

Almost.

"This!" she repeated, her dark eyes wide with barely concealed tears. "This! I hate this awkwardness! I hate not talking to you! I hate it!"

Then suddenly she was crying, tears running silently out of her perfectly-made up eyes and falling in trails down her cheeks.

"Oh, Annie–" He opened up his arms and she ran into them, and they stood there in the corridor, Savannah's face buried in his chest as she cried and cried.

Sirius sighed slightly. What a pain in the ass this was. If he hadn't liked Savannah as a person as much as he did, he would definitely not be putting up with this girly crying nonsense.

Actually, the realization was slightly disheartening. Indeed, he _loved_ Savannah as a person – she made an excellent friend, she was fun to gossip with, fun to hang around with on long evenings – but his feelings of romantic attraction were purely superficial. As he stroked Savannah's back consolingly, he knew that at heart he was only doing it as one friend to another.

When Savannah had finished crying, she wiped her eyes. "Sorry," she whispered, looking up into Sirius's eyes, her arms still wrapped around his chest, his arms still around her shoulders.

He smiled at her consolingly. "It's okay."

They stared into one another's eyes for a few more moments. Sirius knew Savannah wanted him to bridge the few inches between them and kiss her, but was that really the best thing to do? He still fully intended to get with Evetta Niall; kissing Savannah would send mixed messages.

Oh well.

Sirius leaned forward, Savannah closed her eyes, and they shared perhaps the sweetest – if most ambiguously-intended – kiss ever to occur in that empty eighth-floor corridor's history.

When they pulled apart, Savannah was smiling, looking almost relieved. Sirius smiled back at her easily; there was no reason to ruin the moment.

"Sirius, what's the deal with you and Tara?" She was calm and in control now. After all, he had just kissed her; there was no reason to expect a negative turn of events from here on out.

"Nothing," Sirius said flatly. "We got together a few times over the summer and she's completely hung up on me. That's all."

Savannah nodded. "A few times?" she repeated. "I thought it was one drunken night."

Sirius brushed that aside with a wave of his hand. "Well, it might have been a few more times than that, but whatever; same difference." Savannah looked slightly hurt, so he looked into her eyes earnestly. "Honestly, Annie, Tara means nothing to me. It was just summer fun. It's completely finished now, forever. I promise."

Savannah smiled a bit, but then looked at him in disapproval. "So why is she still hung up on you, Sirius?" she asked lightly.

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno." _Yeah, seriously_, he added to himself. _Why can't Tara just take a hint already?_

Savannah smiled again, but worriedly. "Sirius, you need to end things with her. Officially. Then maybe…" She trailed off.

Sirius smiled at her graciously. "I know I do; don't worry, I'm getting around to it."

Savannah nodded in approval, and then looked at him expectantly. "And us…?"

Sirius shrugged one shoulder. "Well, I still like you, definitely," he replied casually. "So I don't know… what do _you_ want to happen?"

Savannah fought hard to conceal a smile of pure delight; this was all she had wanted to hear ever since that awkward day on the train. "Well," she said briskly, crossing her arms, "if you end things with Tara, _then_ we can talk about us."

Sirius smiled at her and shook his head. "Do I have to?"

"Yes!"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Fine!" He opened his arms again, wondering what he was getting himself into. "Celebratory kiss?"

Savannah's face burst out in an overjoyed grin, but then she said stoutly, "Nope! Not until you break it off with Tara. I refuse to do something like that to another girl."

Sirius laughed in disbelief. "Oh, so I imagined that kiss a few minutes ago?"

"What kiss?" Savannah asked, pretending to be puzzled. Then she laughed too. "No, that was because you were consoling me. It's different."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Is it?"

Savannah nodded frankly.

"Do you need to be consoled again…?"

She rolled her eyes. "No! Now let's go back to the common room; I have an essay to proofread."

Sirius laughed again and slung an arm around her shoulders as they walked back down to the seventh floor, and Savannah grinned and let him do it. They talked easily as they made their way along the corridor below, and Sirius was glad that, at the very least, this aspect of the situation had turned out decently.

For now, anyway.

-

"You told Savannah all that? I thought you wanted to get with Evetta!" Remus quipped in disbelief. It was late at night and Sirius was sitting on the floor by his bed filling his friends in on the day's events.

Sirius grinned. "I do!"

Remus shook his head. "That's terrible."

Sirius frowned. "Why?"

Remus turned his palms skyward in disbelief. "_Why?_ Because you essentially told Savannah you want to get back together with her, and now you still plan to go hook up with Evetta! _That's_ why!"

Sirius frowned. "Well, again, we aren't back together _yet_. Relax, Moony."

James nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's not like he wants to _date_ Evetta; he just wants a good snog before committing himself to Annie again!"

Sirius nodded at James. "_Thank_ you!" He turned back to Remus. "You see, Moony? It's like right before you get married, you have to have a bachelor party. This is my bachelor party before I get back together with Annie!"

Remus shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"I think it'll all turn out alright," Peter piped up. "Most things do, don't they?"

Sirius shrugged one shoulder. "With luck."

"What did you say to Lily earlier?" James asked abruptly. "You know… about me?"

Sirius grinned. "Plenty! Lots of great stuff." He grinned more broadly and caught James's eye. "And then I got her to agree that as soon as I go out with Annie again, she'll give _you_ a chance."

Remus's mouth dropped open in shock mingled with amusement. "She _what_?"

James's eyes widened. "She _what_?"

Peter laughed. "She _what_?" he asked, but only because the other two had said it; Peter had heard just fine.

Sirius laughed jovially. "She'll go on a date with you as soon as I start treating Annie right again!"

James's eyes were still wide. "She will, she will? Padfoot – do you realize what this means?"

Sirius shrugged. "That she wants on your body?"

James's face was breaking into an immense grin. "Yes! And it means that you had better hurry it up with Annie, mate! And I mean _hurry_!"

Sirius laughed again. "I will, I will! Don't worry, mate; I've got your back!"

Remus frowned slightly. "I don't think Lily would approve of this Evetta Niall business…"

Sirius shrugged. "Whatever. It's not like she knows…"

James, however, was nodding vigorously in agreement. "No, Moony's right," he said earnestly. "Padfoot – Sirius!" Sirius turned to meet his eyes. "You know I don't ask for much, but this is really important. Please don't do anything to mess it up. Don't make Lily angry."

Sirius nodded; if James was taking that side, he had to honor it. "All right, mate," he replied slowly. "I won't."

With any luck, he could keep his word.

-

For the rest of the week, Savannah was friendly as ever – but, much to Sirius's mild annoyance, entirely platonically so. She often asked Sirius delicately, "Talked to dear Tara yet?"

When he shook his head, she always frowned and gave him a look of severe disappointment so that he squirmed and said, "Don't look at me like that!"

Savannah would laugh. "Talk to her, yeah? Then I'll have nothing to be disappointed about ever again."

Sirius often tried to work the situation to his advantage, but facetiously enough that Savannah wouldn't take him too seriously. "I need to get pumped up," he might reply, opening his arms and beckoning her into them – though she always stood her ground. "Hug? Kiss? Snogging session in a broom closet? Annie, I need your help!"

She would laugh and laugh, her dark eyes squinting. "No! Besides, it'll be _so_ much more fun if I continue to refuse until you've done as I've asked…"

Sirius would nod fairly; this was undoubtedly true.

On Friday at breakfast Savannah, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter sat in general close proximity to one another at the Gryffindor table, helping themselves to bowls of fruit salad and platters of thin, hot crepes.

Savannah had just sat down across from Sirius, her long hair pulled back in a clip, her feathery bangs hanging down into her dark eyes. "Good morning!" she said cheerfully, reaching across the table to peel a crepe off the top of the stack.

Sirius nodded at her pleasantly. "'Morning."

"'Morning," James, who was sitting next to Sirius, mumbled through a mouthful of crepes and strawberries.

Lily had sat down next to Savannah, her red hair pulled back sharply in a high ponytail.

"Lily," James added with a nod, swallowing quickly so as to speak clearly again.

Lily smiled briefly. "Good morning."

Tara Nevan was walking past the Gryffindor table to a place beside Evetta Niall. As she passed behind Savannah and Lily, Tara looked over at Sirius and smiled warmly.

He smiled hesitantly back. Tara was ridiculous. He hadn't really talked to her at all this past week, though whenever she saw him walking down a hallway with Savannah – or any other girl, but especially Savannah – her face turned bitter for a moment. Then she would smile at him broadly, as if attempting to console herself.

The other day she had walked up to him in the corridor between classes and demanded point-blank, "What's up with you and Savannah Baron, Sirius?"

He had looked over at Tara blankly. "Nothing," he had replied. "We're just friends."

Tara had nodded, looking relieved. "Well, I…"

She had trailed off, still looking at him hopefully. Just like Savannah, Tara seemed to have been putting extra effort into her appearance lately in an attempt to make Sirius show renewed interest. Her long, light brown hair was soft and shiny as ever, her hazel-green eyes clear and deceptively innocent-looking.

"I have to get to class," Sirius had put in quickly, offering Tara a ghost a grin and a slight wink. "I'll see you around, Tara."

He probably shouldn't have been so flirtatious, he realized in retrospect. He still hadn't officially told Tara they were through, and she obviously hadn't figured it out herself yet.

As Sirius watched Tara disappear to farther down the table, he noticed that Savannah was watching too. When Tara had sat down, he turned to face back across the table.

Savannah raised her eyebrows at him inquisitively. "Told her yet?" she asked lightly.

Sirius winced. "No."

Savannah nodded. "Well, you ought to do that soon… it's Friday, you won't want to be all alone tonight…"

Sirius quirked one corner of his mouth into a grin. "Yeah, party planned for tonight. Celebrating the start of another delightful school year. Gryffindor common room, nine o'clock."

"Or our dormitory, if it gets too rowdy down there," James put in quickly. "We don't want things getting out of hand."

Savannah smiled. "Maybe we'll drop by."

Lily, however, gave James a sharp look. "Things _cannot_ get out of hand, James. You're Head Boy; you aren't supposed to be supplying underage students with alcohol."

"Says who?" James demanded, pretending to be indignant.

Lily rolled her eyes, but Savannah laughed. "Is that actually in the rulebook?"

Lily smiled a bit despite herself. "Well… I don't think so." When James grinned triumphantly, she added, "But _still_!"

James rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Lils," he said consolingly. "We won't let things get out of hand."

-

Later that afternoon, after his last class of the day had finished, Sirius was annoyed to find himself sitting in the library with Audrey Granada, taking notes on the second chapter of his Arithmancy book as the first stage of the project they had to have completed by next Friday.

"I'm not going to lie, this is pretty boring," he observed after the twentieth minute of sitting at their tiny table.

Audrey shrugged. "Whatever. It's not like it's hard."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "But still… I'm about ready for a break."

Audrey exhaled slightly and looked up from her own parchment of notes. "Fine," she replied curtly, sticking her notes in her book to mark her place and tipping her chair back on two legs.

Sirius twirled his quill between his fingers a few times and propped his elbow on the table, leaning on his palm. "So… plans for tonight?"

He was through caring that she was in Slytherin; sitting in the corner of the library and taking pointless notes just because they needed to turn in an outline with their final paper was just about the most boring thing he'd ever done. It was time to make conversation.

Audrey shrugged. "Of course."

Sirius smiled vaguely. "And those would be…?"

Audrey yawned and stretched her arms up over her head, still balancing the chair on two legs. "Why do you care?" As she spoke, she took her hair down from its ponytail and then tied it back up.

Sirius frowned. "I don't, I'm just bored as all hell and figured I'd make conversation."

To his surprise, Audrey smiled. "Figured." She wiped one eye with a finger and tipped her chair onto all four legs again. "I don't know, maybe I'll just kick it with your brother."

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Are you pals?"

She quirked one corner of her mouth into a grin. "Of sorts."

Sirius understood. He winced. "Oh man… Granada, I don't want to know about you getting with my little brother!"

She laughed easily. "Don't ask, then!"

He shook his head. "Why can't you pick on people your own age?"

She shrugged. "Where's the fun there? You run out of people sooner or later and then what are you supposed to do?"

He found himself grinning broadly, though he wasn't sure why. "You're ridiculous."

She shrugged again, and grinned back at him. "_You're_ telling _me_ this?"

He shook his head in amusement. "You make a great first impression."

She shrugged a third time. "Why should I bother making a good impression when you already either know or assume everything about me that you'd ever want to know?"

He nodded. "Fair point."

She tilted her head to one side and tucked a wisp of dark hair behind one ear. "It's really weird we never crossed paths when we were little."

He felt his brow furrow. If this turned into some quip about his family, he was pretty sure he'd have to cuss her out.

Catching his expression, Audrey added, "I mean… you know." Sirius continued to frown, and suddenly she burst out laughing, tipping her chair back on two legs again. "_You're_ ridiculous, Black! It's not like _I_ give a shit how your beliefs differ from your family's!"

He shrugged. "Whatever."

She laughed again. "Lighten up! You think people care, but they really don't."

He shrugged again. "Some do."

She shook her head. "No, people are just wrapped up in their own little worlds. Either you find love or you don't, and if you don't there's no point in stressing about it."

He wasn't sure how that had anything to do with it. "What are you talking about?"

She smiled genuinely. "You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about! Everyone's just off in his or her own little world, and all you can really do is fall in love and make friends and find something to connect with, otherwise you just go on living your own isolated life, playing the field and having a different kind of ball."

He raised one eyebrow. "Oh."

Audrey laughed again, and this time she tipped her chair too far back and fell over. "Shit!"

When she hit the library floor, however, she grinned unconcernedly and righted her chair, climbing back into it.

"So I guess you're okay?" Sirius asked lightly.

She rolled her eyes. "No, I think I ruptured something."

Sirius snorted. "Pity."

She nodded. "It is."

He stared at her for a few moments. "You're right, I guess," he admitted suddenly. "It's kind of depressing, though, isn't it?"

She shrugged for the umpteenth time. "Only if you don't find love and don't have friends."

He raised his other eyebrow. "So not you?"

She tilted her head first to one side, then to the other. "Well… I have friends, but many of them are quite stupid. Love… it comes and goes."

He laughed suddenly. This was oh-so-true. "I know."

She raised a dark eyebrow. "You've been in love, right?" She nodded, as if answering her own question. "Yeah, I'll bet you have."

He raised both eyebrows at her, quite surprised; just about every other girl he had ever talked to in his life had not deigned to assume this. Then he nodded. "And you have too, right?"

She nodded as well.

They sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in his or her own thoughts.

"Who was yours?" she asked finally.

Sirius opened his mouth, but then shook his head in disbelief. "Why are we talking about this?"

She shrugged yet again. "Why not? It's not like I even care, Black. We both already have a whole preconceived view of one other; it's not like it's going to change any time soon."

He frowned. "What's your view of me?"

"Mmm…" She tilted her chair back on two legs again. "Well, you betrayed your family politically, so you must have some emotional issues… you love your friends, obviously… you get with girls because you can and it makes you superficially happy…"

"Superficially?" He frowned at the word.

She nodded. "I mean, there's nothing _wrong_ with it. It's just one of those things you do to stay happy. Like a game."

He looked at her. "You make me sound so shallow."

She laughed easily. "You are!"

"So are you."

"I know!"

He felt himself beginning to smile again. "And you, Audrey Granada, you get with all those boys because you can. I bet you have them eating out of the palm of your hand. You have loads of friends who are probably just envious of you for being prettier and smarter than they are–"

"You think I'm pretty?" she interrupted casually.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "No, you're hideous."

She laughed.

He gave her a half smile and continued, "–and you probably have a few real friends, too. And you've been in love. And you have a family that loves you, right? And really just the perfect life; you do whatever the hell you please and everybody just fawns over you. Half the school hates you for doing the things they wish they could do, and you're ridiculously competitive at Quidditch because… I don't know, you're competitive. You like a challenge. Something."

She laughed and laughed then. "You know absolutely _nothing_ about me!"

He grinned. "And you know absolutely nothing about _me_!"

She nodded. "This is true. But I was pretty close, right?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. You can make assumptions, but you don't actually know anything."

She nodded again. "Likewise."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Audrey righted her chair onto all four legs once again.

"I really wish you hadn't told me about getting with Regulus," Sirius remarked.

She smiled. "Sorry about that. He's a fun kid, though... you're probably a lot alike."

Sirius snorted. "In bed, or in general?"

She laughed. "In general! He just cares more about what people think, I bet."

He raised and lowered one shoulder. "Who knows? Who cares?"

"Not you, obviously."

"Who were you in love with?" Sirius asked suddenly. This conversation was very surreal and very random, and he couldn't help but be curious.

Audrey frowned. "Hector Zabini," she replied after a moment. "Probably the best-intentioned boy ever to set foot in Slytherin."

Sirius wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but that certainly wasn't it. "Hector Zabini?" he repeated in disbelief. "But he's been with Claire forever."

Audrey nodded. "I know. Depressing, isn't it? At heart, Sirius, I'm just a hopeless romantic."

She had called him by his first name. This conversation was getting more and more surreal by the moment.

"Yeah…" He trailed off for a minute, and then said, "Were you ever together? Ever?"

She shook her head. "That's the tragedy of it. I've known him for ages longer than Claire Delacour ever did, my father's from Cadiz and his family is all in Morocco, see?"

Sirius nodded. He knew that there had long been strong ties among the old wizarding families of the Mediterranean.

"Then we both ended up at Hogwarts," Audrey continued. "We'd been friends forever, not that Claire ever thought about it that way. When the two of them got together it was pretty depressing. A while back I tried to see what would happen if I made my move, but he was completely enamored of her by that point. All such a waste of time…" She smiled at Sirius sadly.

He was still in complete shock. "Small world," he remarked, knowing the comment probably seemed out-of-the-blue to her.

Audrey frowned. "Is it?"

Sirius nodded, refusing to elaborate. "Why did you tell me all this?" he asked instead.

She shrugged. "I figured you'd understand."

That wasn't what he'd been expecting either. Suddenly he laughed. "What the hell, Audrey? Why are we having this conversation? Why are we talking at all? I don't even _like_ you!"

He realized he had called her by her first name, too. How fitting.

She laughed as well. "Because we're the same! Haven't you realized it? We're both obnoxious and confused and get whatever the hell we want!"

He shook his head. "That's not true at all."

She smiled sweetly. "I know, but wouldn't it be nice?"

He nodded, and smiled too despite himself. What a day this was turning out to be. "You're really crazy."

She grinned. "Can't please everyone."

He nodded again. "I loved Claire Delacour," he said suddenly. "So much, you can't even imagine... or maybe you can, actually."

Audrey's eyes went wide. "Well, you should've told me earlier! You could've had her and I could've had Hector and we all could've lived happily ever after!"

Sirius laughed and shook his head.

Audrey still looked shocked. "Claire Delacour, Sirius? Claire Delacour? How do you even _know_ Claire Delacour?"

He smiled and shook his head again. "I have no idea why the hell I just told you that." He half hoped she would think he had been kidding.

"You really did, didn't you?" She was looking straight at him now, obviously not at all on the verge of thinking he had been having her on. "You really did… man, do I feel you."

And before he knew it, he was telling her all about the detentions with Professor Lamont the previous spring, all about Claire Delacour and how much he had loved her, but also about how he had realized that all he wanted out of any girl was to feel the same way he had felt around Claire, and about how, even though it was quite depressing, he had gotten over it (sort of), and did not dwell on it too much, and was really rather enjoying life.

Audrey listened and said little. Finally she said, "I know _exactly_ what you mean."

They had missed supper by this point. All work on the project had been forgotten.

"We should be friends, Sirius," Audrey said suddenly. "We really should. I mean, I know we don't actually like one another, but–"

"You're alright," Sirius interrupted.

She smiled easily. "So are you. Actually, I think most people are, you know? They just have lots of preconceived notions."

He nodded. "Yeah."

They sat in silence for a while more. Then Audrey said, "Well, we should probably meet tomorrow to finish this outlining, at any rate."

He nodded again. "Yeah. Tomorrow afternoon, say?"

She nodded as well. "All right."

They stood up and left the library, both puzzling over how, despite all those years of being the whore of Slytherin and the whore of Gryffindor, respectfully, neither had realized how incredibly compatible they were.

-

Sirius was tipsy as all hell. It was fantastic. The party had started later than intended, after the younger students had gone to bed. Now it was nearly midnight.

Moments before, Tara Nevan, looking pretty sober, had slinked up behind Sirius, who had been sitting on one of the couches laughing about how the floor was tilting, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Tara!" he exclaimed, turning his head and pecking her on the lips. She grinned at him and leaned in again, obviously hoping for another kiss, but Sirius wasn't feeling it. He stood up happily and skipped across the room, past Savannah and Lily, who were sitting on either side of Peter and laughing heartily about something.

"Did you drink, Lily?" Sirius asked incredulously.

"No, but it's absolutely hilarious watching the rest of you do it!" she replied, grinning at him.

Savannah laughed as well. "Talk to Tara, Sirius!" she shouted cheerfully, obviously not having seen that kiss a few moments before.

Not like it mattered; that kiss had meant absolutely nothing.

"I will, I will!"

Sirius continued across the room, catching sight of the girl he was _really_ looking for: Evetta Niall, who had taken one shot of firewhisky and some spiked butterbeer and was either pretending to be buzzed or else was an utter lightweight.

He wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, Evie."

She grinned back at him, her cheeks flushed. "Hey, Sirius!"

He jerked his head toward the dormitory stairs suggestively. "Wanna take a walk?"

She laughed and laughed. "I'd love to!"

They were about to go up the boys' dormitory stairs when Sirius remembered that Remus had already retired to sleep, that loser. And there was no way Remus would approve of Sirius taking Evetta Niall up to their dormitory if he was already in it.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, whirling Evetta back around.

"What?"

"Moony's up there! We can't bother him! You go up to your dormitory and I'll meet you there!"

Evetta laughed again. "What are we going to do there?"

Sirius grinned at her and tossed his hair out of his eyes. "I want to talk to you about stuff! Here, I'll be right back. Meet me there!"

She giggled and said, "Okay, okay!"

As Evetta disappeared up the dormitory steps, Sirius hurried up his own. He reached his own dormitory, brushed aside Remus's questions emanating from between the hangings of his four-poster, and grabbed James's invisibility cloak. Out in the hallway, Sirius transformed into Padfoot beneath the cloak and hurried down the stairs.

As a dog, he could go up the girls' dormitory stairs no problem. Though the spiral staircase turned into a slide whenever a human boy tried to climb up, male animals needed to be able to use the stairs incase female students had male pets. Sirius had always felt that being able to go up those stairs was a very positive perk to being an Animagus.

He reached the door to Evetta Niall's dormitory, transformed back into a human, stuffed the cloak into his pocket, and stepped inside.

Evetta was sprawled on her bed, utterly relaxed. "How did you get up here?" she asked him, sitting up and smiling.

He grinned back mischievously. "I have my ways."

He crossed the room and sat down beside her on the bed. Evetta's long black hair was mused and wavy, and her brown eyes sparkled. She looked pretty damn hot.

They looked at one another for a few more moments. Evetta opened her mouth to say something.

"I think Tara–"

There was no way Sirius was going to let Evetta start thinking about Tara at a time like this. He leaned forward and kissed her on the lips.

She took in her breath in surprise, but was obviously quite pleased. He slid a hand behind her head, pulling her closer to him, and deepened the kiss. Evetta was a decent kisser – but only decent. Sirius was too tipsy to think about this very much, however.

He pushed Evetta back onto her bed, kissing her all the while. She wrapped her arms around his neck and arched her back, pushing herself into him. They lay there for quite a while, kissing one another more and more passionately. Kissing while drunk was proving, as always, to be quite fun.

Sirius wasn't sure how long they lay there making out, but suddenly he heard a strangled cry of, "What the hell is this?"

He and Evetta broke apart and looked toward the sound. There stood Tara Nevan, her hazel eyes quickly filling with tears as she watched her best friend and the boy she was in love with passionately kiss one another in her own dormitory.

Talk about betrayal.

Sirius sat up quickly. "Hello, Tara!" he said, trying to be cheerful.

Evetta looked terribly guilty. She was biting her lip nervously.

"Er… Tara…" she began.

"Fuck you both!" Tara shouted, turning on her heel and leaving the dormitory, slamming the door behind her.

"Tara, wait!" Evetta shouted, standing up and trying to follow her. She turned to look at Sirius. "Er… I thought…" She trailed off, obviously unsure of what to do. "Well, fuck!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Tara and I were over; don't worry about it."

Evetta stared at him in disbelief. "She's my best friend!"

Sirius fought back a biting urge to say, "Well, _was_ your best friend, at any rate." Instead he shrugged.

Evetta turned on her heel and left the dormitory as well, leaving the door open behind her.

Sirius sighed, stretched, and stood up. Well, this was certainly fucked up. Oh alcohol… he was pretty sure he wouldn't have done something this destined to backfire if he hadn't been drunk.

Crossing the room, Sirius transformed back into Padfoot, put on the cloak, and headed downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs he transformed back into himself and looked around the common room, still wearing the invisibility cloak. It was one in the morning, and most of the occupants had already headed up to bed. Tara was nowhere in sight; she had probably left through the portrait hole for a midnight walk or something. Evetta sat by the fireplace, looking emotionally distraught, clearly waiting for Tara to come back.

Sirius felt a little bit bad… but then again, Evetta shouldn't have gone along with making out with him if she had known Tara would be so hurt, and Tara should have figured out earlier that their relationship was over.

Well, at least she could be one hundred percent sure of its finality now. Tomorrow Sirius would track down Savannah and inform her that all had been remedied, albeit definitely not in the way he had originally intended.

---

A/N: SO sleazy! If a guy ever does this to you, kids, you should dump him.

Reviews for Chapter Eight!

lilia: Thank you!

Potpoury: thank you!

Lainia26: yes yes, we'll see!

FireQueen618: haha, thank you!

lavizsla: thank you!

dixio: thanks! We shall see…

MaraudingChick: Thank you!

…And thanks to people who reviewed other chapters, too! Next chapter should be up soon-ish. Sirius will stop being an absolute sleaze, hopefully.

Review?

Love,

Simone


	10. Moving On

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **M

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

**A/N: **Yay, update! The next will be up eventually; I'll never give up!

* * *

Chapter Ten

_Moving On_

Sirius awoke the next morning feeling utterly relaxed. Remus had just finished taking a shower and was crossing the room wrapped in a towel. Peter was rummaging in a drawer for clothes. James was currently taking a shower; Sirius could hear him singing.

"Good morning, Padfoot," Remus said pleasantly as he reached his bureau.

Sirius nodded, sat up, and stretched.

The previous night rushed back to him.

Oh man… good thing he didn't care about Tara's feelings.

"Hey, what did you and Evetta do last night, Padfoot?" Peter asked, echoing Sirius's thoughts, as he pulled on a shirt. "I saw you two go upstairs but…"

Remus turned around to stare at him.

"Did you hook up with Evetta, Sirius?" he demanded, sounding somewhat irate.

Sirius frowned at him. "Well, yeah, but I don't see why you're getting so worked up over it."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Sirius! You were supposed to break things off with Tara, get back together with Annie, and let everyone live happily ever after!"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, Tara walked in on us, so that takes care of the 'breaking things off' bit…"

Remus's eyes widened. "She _walked in _on you?"

Peter fought hard not to laugh. "Damn. Sounds pretty awkward, mate."

Sirius looked at Peter unconcernedly. "Yeah, pretty awkward."

Remus shook his head. "Man, you'd better hope Lily doesn't find out about that. She'll be bloody miffed."

Sirius winced. "Yeah, well, what can you do?"

Remus frowned in exaggerated thought. "Well, this is just going out on a limb, but not hooking up with the best friend of the girl you're supposed to be officially breaking things off with while still being unofficially committed to the best friend of the girl who _your_ best friend wants to date is probably a good idea."

Sirius frowned, trying to follow him. Then he grinned bashfully. "Ah well; can't please everyone."

Remus rolled his eyes again but couldn't help but smile.

James strolled out of the bathroom fully clothed.

"What did I miss?"

"Sirius hooked up with Evetta," Peter chirped.

James grinned easily. "You did?"

Sirius nodded, smiling as well. "I did indeed."

Remus groaned. "Yes, he did, but Tara walked in on them and now everything's a right _mess_…"

James raised one eyebrow. "Sounds like it," he observed cheerfully. Then the magnitude of the situation hit him. "Oh _man_… wait, Padfoot – if Lily finds out about this and… I dunno… messes everything up somehow–"

Sirius brushed that aside. "Don't worry about it; I'll talk to Annie today and everything will be just peachy."

James nodded. "Yeah..."

Peter grinned. "How do you get yourself into these situations, Padfoot?"

Sirius shrugged ruefully, and Remus shook his head and refused to say anything more.

-

Sirius did not see Savannah or Lily at breakfast, though he did see Tara, who promptly got up and left the hall when he entered. A while later, Evetta walked in and sat down by herself. She gave Sirius one look of soul-wrenching guilt; he looked away haughtily.

He heard whispers here and there; a few sixth-year Gryffindor girls leaned forward to converse with one another as he passed, as well as when Evetta arrived. Sirius did not especially care; he was used to occasional bouts of negative gossip, and he knew that it always blew over.

Evetta, however, looked a nervous wreck. She wore cloth pants and had pulled her hair back in a limp ponytail. She ate her breakfast in silence, not smiling.

Remus gave Sirius a look from across the table. "You should apologize to Evetta, you know." It was the first time he had spoken since they had been upstairs in the dormitory.

Sirius glanced down to the end of the table, where Evetta leaned dejectedly on one elbow and silently ate her oatmeal. The other girls in her dormitory sat nearby but were busy gossiping to one another; they gave Evetta an occasional look of disgust mingled with delight over the drama of it all, but otherwise paid her no heed.

"She'll get over it," Sirius replied stoutly, refusing to let this get to him. He had done this before, many times, and the girls always eventually came around.

Remus sighed and turned back to his oatmeal.

Savannah and Lily entered the Great Hall soon afterward, both looking very pretty in loose jeans and sweaters. Savannah came up behind Sirius and poked him in the back. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.

He leaned his head back to look up at her. "Hey there."

Savannah raised one eyebrow. "Funny thing I heard on the way downstairs this morning. You and I need to have a talk, Sirius."

Sirius smiled confidently, glad that she wasn't beating around the bush. If only Tara had been this self-confident! Savannah's familiar straightforwardness and sincerity made him want to win her over again.

"That we do."

Her mouth quivered slightly. "Right… well…"

Lily coughed and jerked her head pointedly farther down the table. Savannah brushed Sirius's shoulder with her hand as she passed and said, "We'll talk after breakfast."

Sirius nodded. Then he made the mistake of shifting his gaze from Savannah's understanding dark eyes to Lily's condescending green ones. She gave him a look of unmistakable disdain and disappointment.

Well, shit.

After breakfast he and Savannah made their way out of the foyer and onto the grounds, saying little. It was a beautiful September morning; the sky was clear and the trees were beginning to change color. They made their way toward the sparkling lake.

When they were out of range of the voices of the other students lounging outside in the fresh morning, Savannah said briskly, "So. Explain yourself."

Sirius stopped and turned to look at her. Her long blond hair hung over her shoulders, looking soft and windswept, as always. Her light bangs were brushed to one side. Her morose dark eyes showed her disappointment. She was so much more elegant than Tara, so much more mature than Evetta – Sirius knew, right then and there, that there was no way he was going to let this situation not end in his favor.

He cleared his throat. "It's pretty simple, really – I got drunk last night and hooked up with Evetta."

Savannah winced. "_Why_, Sirius?" She sounded almost pleading.

Sirius gave her a ghost of a grin. "Well, you kept withholding everything from me, and my drunken self knew that I wouldn't get anywhere trying to hook up with _you_, so…" He smiled at her. "Annie, it meant absolutely nothing. I woke up this morning and my first thought was relief – because I knew you'd understand where I was coming from."

This was not entirely true, but he didn't care; at this point, he simply wanted to move on.

Savannah nodded slightly. "Sirius, you _do_ realize that was incredibly sleazy, don't you? I mean, apparently now Tara's not talking to Evetta and Evetta's an emotional wreck and… I dunno, you do feel _bad_ about that, yeah?"

Sirius nodded briskly. "Of course I feel bad, but… well, it's not the kind of thing I like to dwell on, you know? Shit happens. People get drunk."

Savannah nodded again. "I know. Shit happens." She sighed. "I don't know, Sirius… I really wish you'd just broken things of with Tara earlier. Then none of this would have happened…"

He nodded in agreement. "This is true."

Savannah looked up at him. "You don't like Evetta at all?"

He shook his head at once. "No! Or I mean, she's cute, I guess, but... look, Annie, anything I feel for Evetta Niall is purely superficial and only comes out when I'm incredibly drunk. And all we did was kiss, anyway. And I… I don't even _know_ her."

Again, this wasn't entirely true – though it was indeed true that they had not gone past kissing. At present, however, Sirius had no interest in hooking up with Evetta Niall; the poor manner in which she was taking their current predicament indicated to him that she was lacking in both maturity and self-confidence.

Never mind that her actions also demonstrated sincerity and remorse.

Savannah sighed. "Sirius, why do you do these things?"

He sighed, too. "I don't know." Savannah still looked incredibly hurt, so he decided to bust out a new tactic. "Annie, tell me, what do you want me to say? What do you want to happen? The ball's in your court now; I know I did something incredibly stupid but now I'll do whatever you want."

Again, this was only the partial truth; he knew at heart that he would always be in control, so saying this was largely to make Savannah feel better.

She sighed. "It's just… you've really hurt a lot of people."

"Accidentally," he replied briskly. "Look, Annie, if I want to hear a lecture on my mistakes, I'll talk to Remus or Lily. I just…" He hesitated, and looked at her sincerely. "I wish you'd take solace in the fact that I've learned my lesson and will never do anything like this again."

(Of course, he would never intentionally do something like this in the first place; shit just happened.)

Savannah sighed yet again, clearly unsure of what to say. Sirius decided he needed to take matter into his own hands more directly.

"Savannah Baron," he said, kneeling down in front of her and clasping her hands in his so that she smiled a bit despite herself, "I really, really like you. You're beautiful and smart and funny and great at Quidditch and no matter what happens I know I'll always want you as a friend… though preferably as more." She giggled slightly. "All I want right now is for you to forgive me my stupid drunken actions and understand that the only girl in the world who means anything at all to me is _you_."

She bit her lip for a moment but soon could not help herself; she grinned. After all, this was all any girl ever wanted to hear.

"Annie, Annie, Annie," Sirius murmured, shaking his head. Then he tossed his hair out of his eyes and grinned at her slowly. "Come on, Annie. Don't leave me like this."

She laughed out loud then, pulled him to his feet and kissed him soundly, her right arm wrapped around his neck and her left hand on his shoulder, pulling him into her. Sirius kissed her back, his arms around her, the sun shining overhead and the great blue lake shimmering. When they pulled apart they were both smiling, the silly smiles of two old friends reunited at last, of two people who were, for the moment, perfectly content in one another.

"Annie, will you go out with me? Again, I mean?" Sirius asked her.

She laughed again. "Yes, I will." Then she tried to look severe. "But you'd better stay clean, you hear? No more getting drunk with anybody but me, and so on…"

Sirius smiled at her happily. "Why would I ever want to?"

They leaned in and kissed one another again. Sirius wrapped his arms around her so that when he stood up straight he lifted her off the ground, and she shrieked with delight. It was all wonderful and familiar, and it was a beautiful autumn day. Sirius didn't care that he hadn't been entirely honest, he didn't care that he would never feel for Savannah the way he had felt about Claire. Right now, he was happy to have a girlfriend he could have fun with, a girlfriend he respected as a person, and, perhaps most importantly, a girlfriend who would force Lily to go on a date with James.

-

Sirius knew that Lily was disappointed with him. When he and Savannah strolled back up to the common room, hand in hand, laughing at the occasional glance of a gossiping sixth year, Lily fought hard to conceal her frown.

"Well, hello, you too!" she said briskly.

Savannah gave Lily a look, and Lily briefly raised her eyebrows. Sirius was sure Lily had spent the morning lecturing Savannah on why it would be a good idea to not give in to him just yet – and it was all for naught.

HaHA! Take _that_, Lily! he thought triumphantly.

"So, Lily dear," Sirius said smoothly, "I think a double-date is in order…"

Lily shook her head at him slightly. "Oh, Sirius Black…" She turned to Savannah. "Hey Annie, care to pop upstairs with me for a minute?"

Savannah grinned despite herself. "Sure thing, Lils." She squeezed Sirius's hand briefly and followed Lily upstairs. Sirius knew she was dying to spill the events of the last half-hour. Girls were weird that way.

As the two of them disappeared, James came downstairs. He raised his eyebrows at Sirius. "How did it go?"

Sirius grinned. "Excellently."

James grinned, too. "Brilliant. I knew you'd pull it off."

Peter came down behind him, shaking his head bemusedly. "Way to go, Padfoot. What did you tell her?"

Sirius grinned more broadly. "I got down on one knee and begged her forgiveness."

James and Peter both laughed. "Cute," James observed.

Sirius nodded modestly. "That it was."

-

Sirius was in the library with Audrey Granada, but he was definitely not working.

"So, I heard a scandalous rumor about you today," Audrey said politely as they sat down at a table.

Sirius grinned. "Did you?"

She nodded. "Hooking up with the best friend? That's pretty shady, mate."

Sirius laughed. It was very funny that Audrey Granada, the girl for whom he had always harbored, at best, polite indifference, was calling him "mate."

"Yeah, not the best of moves."

"Why did you do it?"

He shrugged. "Why not? I'm back with Savannah now, so it all worked out."

She smiled pleasantly, obviously somewhat amused. "You really don't care, do you? Hook up with some random girl, ruin her friendship with another girl, and then just move right on back to your cute, preppy, Quidditch-playing cover girl… it's all one and the same."

Sirius frowned, but then he smiled back at her. "Honestly, I don't really care about Evetta or Tara. I mean… I hooked up with Tara all summer, but it was pretty much because… I don't know… I was bored. I mean, why not, right?"

Audrey nodded.

"And then Evetta… well, she's cute. I figured I might as well; I mean, I wasn't officially back with Savannah yet, so I knew that… that…"

"…That you'd be able to get down on bended knee and beg her forgiveness and she wouldn't be able to get _that_ angry?" Audrey put in.

Sirius nodded. "Pretty much."

Audrey smiled. She pulled her dark hair back into a ponytail with her hands, but, finding that she had no hair elastic on her wrist, let it drop back down over her sweater-clad shoulders.

"I didn't hook up with your little brother last night, in case you were wondering."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Actually, I'd tried to banish all thoughts of that from my mind…"

Audrey smiled again. "He's just somewhat immature. I don't know. I was in the mood for someone _older_."

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "You're ridiculous, Audrey Granada. Have I told you that?"

She nodded. "I think so." She leaned on one arm casually. "Anyway, I didn't do anything last night but read a book and go to bed. Can you imagine? My friends all got drunk, but all I wanted to do was read. It's pathetic, isn't it?"

Sirius laughed again. "Oh, don't even pretend to think it's pathetic. You know perfectly well you don't give a shit what your friends think."

Audrey giggled. "Well, I feel bad for them when they're sad, but yes, I don't really care much what they think about me."

"So it's not pathetic."

"It's not."

He paused. "Why didn't you hook up with my brother?"

She shrugged. "I already told you, I didn't want to."

"How often do you hook up with people?"

"Oh, I often date them, too. I'm not 'easy,' Sirius; I just don't have any trouble finding a man when I want one."

Sirius laughed yet again. "Don't worry, I won't judge you."

She burst out laughing. "You 'won't judge me?' Sirius, for your entire life up until yesterday you've judged me!"

Sirius nodded. "And yet here we are, on a first-name basis."

She grinned. "So getting with Nevan was pretty silly of you. You know that, right? Getting with Niall's only to be expected, but getting with Nevan was silly."

Sirius nodded again. "Oh, I know."

Audrey frowned. "Did you sleep with her?"

"Tara or Evetta?"

"Tara, of course."

Sirius shook his head. "Nah. Seemed inconsiderate."

Audrey nodded. "Definitely."

"But you've slept with my brother?"

She laughed. "No, not quite. I could have, but like I said, I'm not _that_ much of a whore."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Really? I thought you had."

"I thought you'd slept with Tara."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"You're really not the best person," Audrey observed.

Sirius frowned at her. "This from you?"

She shrugged. "I don't mind; I'm just pointing it out. I mean, if I were Savannah Baron, I sure as hell wouldn't be taking you back this quickly."

Sirius shrugged as well. "Well, you're not, so it doesn't really matter, does it?" he said, a bit too icily.

Audrey gave him a look. "That wasn't very nice."

He raised one eyebrow. "Wasn't it?"

She shook her head. "Being mean to me won't get you anywhere, Sirius."

He stared at her for a few moments. Then he said, "I know."

Audrey took a deep breath. "Your brother's really affected by your family, I think."

Sirius frowned. "Can we not talk about this?"

Audrey looked at him. "If you really don't want to… I don't even mean by their idealism, though; I just mean by the fact that they disowned you."

Sirius found himself glaring at her. "Can we _not_ talk about this? Jesus, Audrey…"

She winced. Then she said, "I'm sorry. It's not my place."

He leaned on one arm and looked at her stonily. If there was one thing he never wanted to talk about with anybody, it was his family.

Audrey stared right back at him. She brushed her short bangs more securely to one side and looked at him with her dark, thickly-lashed eyes. "No offense, but you need to chill out."

Sirius shook his head. "Actually, I can do whatever the hell I want, remember?"

Audrey sat back and crossed her arms. "Sirius, I'm not going to judge you. It's not like _I _don't have family shit too… I mean, it's different, sure, but I'm not going to tease you or ridicule you or… I don't know… blame you…"

Sirius frowned again. "Audrey, why do you even care? Why do you give a shit about _anything _in my life? How can I even be sure that I trust you?"

She scratched her chin and thought for a few moments. "Well… I can see why you wouldn't. But honestly, it wouldn't hurt, would it? What's the worst that could happen?"

Sirius shook his head. "I don't know. Something awful. My friends could die."

Audrey raised one eyebrow. "Sirius, don't forget, I already know everything about you."

He opened his mouth to interrupt, but she continued, "I mean, not about _you_, but about your circumstances. About your family. About everything."

He opened his mouth again, but she wouldn't let him talk. "If I ask you a question about anything beyond stupid school trivialities, I personally think it's ridiculous that you're afraid to answer me."

"I'm not _afraid_," he put in, ready to be thoughtful, "I'm just… I… I just don't talk about my life with people. It's not any of their business."

"Don't you talk about it with Potter and them?"

Sirius shrugged. "To a certain extent with James, yes. But I mean… they already know everything, and they know how I feel, too; they don't need me to _talk_ about it to understand."

Audrey was staring at him intently. "But I'm not them, Sirius. I like talking – you might have noticed. I want to talk about it."

Sirius looked up at her, and their eyes met. "Someday, maybe. Not now." Then he shook himself. "Jesus, Granada. Why do you want to be my friend so badly, anyway?"

She shrugged. "Why do you want to be _my_ friend so badly?"

"I don't."

"You aren't acting like you don't."

He nodded fairly. "I feel I should warn you, I've never managed to be 'just friends' with a girl."

She shrugged again, and smiled. "I'll be the first, then."

-

It was Saturday night, and James and Peter had already returned from Hogsmeade with butterbeer and candy for all, but Sirius was in no mood to spend time with a crowd; he hadn't done anything sexual – beyond kissing, that was – in a good couple of weeks, and tonight all he wanted to do was spend time with Savannah making up for it.

They left their friends in the common room and made their way out into the empty corridor. It was nine o'clock at night; plenty of time to find a cozy corner of the castle.

As they had exited the portrait hole, Sirius had caught sight of Evetta Niall, watching him and Savannah and looking scandalized, and Tara Nevan, ignoring Evetta and looking furious. He was pretty sure Remus was still a bit annoyed at him as well – but whatever; everyone would get over it eventually.

"Where to?" Sirius asked Savannah in a cheerful undertone as they set out down the empty seventh floor corridor. He had his arm around her shoulders and she had her arm around his waist. Savannah's long hair was down and he enjoyed the feeling of it on his arm. She wore the outfit she had been wearing that morning – a fitted V-neck sweater knitted in various shades of blue and a pair of jeans.

"Let's just see where we end up," she replied, looking up at him and smiling suggestively.

Sirius grinned at her. "Alright."

They continued up several flights of stairs, speaking in undertones.

"What did Lily say to you when we got back?" Sirius asked pleasantly – not that he really cared what Lily said or thought.

Savannah snorted derisively. "She rolled her eyes and told me my actions disgusted her but that she loved me anyway."

Sirius frowned. "I don't see what's so disgusting about it. If two people like one another there's no point in holding unnecessary grudges."

Savannah nodded. "Yeah, that's what I told her."

Sirius smiled serenely. "She's really just trying to deny the fact that she _desperately_ wants on James."

Savannah laughed. "You may be right. I don't know, though… I'll talk to her about it again. Tell her to come on a double-date with us, and all that…"

Sirius looked down at her and smiled. "That's my girl."

Savannah grinned. As they continued to walk down the narrow sixth-floor corridor they now found themselves in, Sirius pulled her toward him and kissed her. Then they found themselves immobilized for several moments as Sirius deepened the kiss.

God, was Savannah ever a better kisser than Tara. Sirius wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her until next Saturday.

Still not stopping the kiss, Sirius steered Savannah backward toward the nearest door, which he knew led, like all the other doors along this hallway, to a guest office used by visiting Ministry members and temporary staff.

The room was dark and windowless, though the small fireplace sputtered to life as Sirius shut the door behind them. Savannah leaned away from him for a moment to look around.

"What is this place?"

"Guest office," Sirius replied promptly, leaning in to kiss her again and pushing her gently down onto the small sofa before the fire. Flames danced merrily on the dark walls and on the thin brown embroidered carpet as Sirius pulled off her sweater and dropped it on the stone floor behind them.

He wanted things to heat up. He stopped kissing Savannah on the lips and instead trailed kisses down her neck and over her breasts and stomach. When he reached her trousers he looked back up at her. Her hair had grown somewhat disarrayed, but it looked sexy that way. She gave him a seductive smile, and he leaned back up quickly to peck her on the lips as he unzipped her pants.

Soon those, too, were discarded onto the stone floor. She sighed slightly and leaned back to stare up at the stone ceiling and rest her head on the sofa's armrest as he slowly slid his hand into her panties.

The evening was going splendidly so far. Funny to think that this time yesterday he had hooked up with Evetta Niall.

Savannah found it funny, too. A while later, as they sat in one another's arms kissing occasionally and staring at the fire, she remarked with a small chuckle, "You're on a roll, Sirius."

He pretended to wince. "Annie, why do you bring _up_ these things?"

She giggled, climbed off of his lap to kneel before him on the carpet, clasping his hands in hers, and smiled at him sweetly. "Just to make you feel guilty."

He grinned despite himself. "Well, it's working."

She looked beautiful, lit from behind by the fire in the fireplace, currently wearing a sweater and no trousers. She brushed her hair out of her face and eyed his crotch.

"Happy to see me?" she remarked airily.

He laughed. "As always."

She unzipped his jeans and leaned in.

He sighed and closed his eyes.

A perfect Saturday night.

-

On Sunday Sirius came across an interesting sight: Remus and Evetta Niall, talking in the library. He had come to meet Audrey Granada – they hadn't finished everything yesterday, what with talking so much – and hadn't expected to run into anyone else.

Evetta glanced at Sirius but refused to meet his eyes as he passed their table; Remus gave him a small smile.

Sirius found Audrey at their usual table toward the back.

"Looks like Niall's found herself a new man," she observed, pretending to be coy. "Pity for you..."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, ha ha."

Audrey smiled. "They've been talking ever since I got here. I think he's reassuring her not to take you seriously."

Sirius rolled his eyes again. Then he smiled. "Hey, want to hear a clever pun?"

Audrey laughed despite herself. "No."

Sirius nodded in understanding. "Fine. Your loss."

-

Later that night, he asked Remus about it.

"Friends with Evie, now, are we?"

Remus shrugged, but then smiled. "Well, I felt bad for her and figured she might want somebody to talk to who wasn't absolutely furious with her."

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Wow. Slick move. Maybe you should date."

To his surprise, Remus blushed. "I'm not going to date her, Sirius; I'm not _you_. I just thought she might need somebody to talk things over with."

Sirius nodded, but kept his eyes exaggeratedly skeptical. "Mmhmm… well, Moony, I support you. What's she saying anyway? How much she hates me?"

Remus titled his head first to one side, then to the other. "Actually, she's not that naïve. She's angrier at herself, I think. Doesn't have the energy to hate you. She really just wants Tara to forgive her so they can move on."

Sirius nodded again. "Mmm. Well, that's all _fascinating_."

Remus quirked one corner of his mouth into a frown. "Padfoot, you really messed up with this one. Evie's really sweet. She didn't deserve this at all."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, cry me a river." Then he smiled amicably. "Look, Moony, nobody deserves anything. You can tell Evie I apologize, or she and Tara can reunite over mutually hating me, or whatever. I don't care. I've moved on."

Remus nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know."

---

**Reviews!**

Dixio – Heh, me too.

FireQueen618 – Thank you :)

Beckers123 – Thank you!

Freja Lercke-Falkenborg – Thanks! In this case I meant Niall from Irish lore (she's Irish, for one thing). Niall of the Nine Hostages founded a dynasty of Irish kings. Evetta will play a bigger role in coming chapters. Can you guess how?

Pinkandpurple – Thank you!

La Mariposa -Carp- – I'm glad you decided to investigate, too!

Pazas 1917 – Thank you!

**Please review, even if it's just like ":)" or ":(" or something; reviews make me dance around with joy! Or at least grin broadly.**

**Love, Simone **


	11. The Twelfth Promenade

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **lyk omfg M

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

**A/N: **It hasn't been that long, has it? See, I told you I'd update! See? SEE?

* * *

Chapter Eleven

_The Twelfth Promenade_

Sirius was having a rather pleasant end of September. There was a Hogsmeade trip the coming weekend, and Quidditch was soon to resume. He saw Savannah daily and often marveled, not at how much he liked her, but at the fact that, for once in his life, he was consciously sick of drama.

Indeed, the first week of school had been so sickeningly dramatic that Sirius had all but banished it from his memory. Tara Nevan still refused to look him in the face, though Savannah had told him in a voice mixed with both aggravation and bemused triumph that Tara often gazed longingly at him when Sirius was not looking.

Remus reported, much to Sirius's indifference, that Tara had begun speaking to Evetta Niall again. Savannah, however, smiled when he told her. "So it's all blowing over," she remarked.

Sirius laughed. "But you liked it while it lasted, Annie."

She looked indignant, but he knew she was only pretending. "I do not!"

He laughed again. "Yes you do; don't lie! You've been the victor!"

She laughed and laughed then, and nodded. "You know me too well, Sirius Black."

He didn't bother to correct her; instead he grinned, pinned her against the nearest dormitory wall and kissed her. But had he bothered to explain the truth, he would have said that, really, it wasn't that he knew her all that well; rather, he knew she was competitive, and he recognized the flash of excitement in Savannah's eyes whenever she reported on Tara's latest doings. Savannah liked to win; it was what made her such an effective Quidditch player. And in this case, she was winning almost without trying.

Sirius was amused and pleased by how happy it made her. If there was one thing to make him regret the end to all this drama, it was that Savannah would soon lose that competitive edge, that drive to forever perpetuate her relationship with him simply because it made other girls blatantly jealous. He knew Savannah liked him for more important reasons as well, but he had always loved the fact that, though kind, polite and refined in exterior behavior, she was not above experiencing a sweet dose of schadenfreude.

He confided all this to Audrey Granada one day, who laughed.

"That's amazing," she said shortly.

"Is it?" he remarked. "Personally, I think most people take happiness in others' misfortune, just so long as the misfortune isn't… you know, _that _bad."

She shook her head, her dark hair whipping across her mouth in the light breeze. "No, I mean it's amazing that it makes you so cheerful when she does it. You love having girls fight over you, don't you, Sirius?"

They were walking down to the Quidditch pitch together, Audrey because she was now captain of the Slytherin team and wanted to watch the Gryffindor tryouts, and he because he was supposed to be participating in said tryouts. James had left soon after breakfast and Savannah had run upstairs to pick up something she had forgotten. Sirius had loitered in the foyer for a while, idly waiting for Savannah to come back downstairs, but then Audrey had come striding out of the Great Hall with a notebook and quill in hand, and he had figured he might as well head down to the pitch with her.

He grinned at her broadly. "I _do_ love having girls fight over me. It's a rush."

She shook her head at him and laughed again. "I know it. It's inconsiderate to incite it just for the sake of giving you the rush, though, you know?"

He frowned, pondering for a moment. "I suppose, if I had a soul…"

She laughed again. "Don't play that card! You've got just as much a soul as I do."

He made a great show of bursting into laughter, and she rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm. "Shove it. Anyway, you do know that, don't you? Make sure you don't… I don't know… go off leading some other girl on just so Savannah can win again."

Sirius raised one eyebrow at her. "Are you suggesting I could be _that_ conniving?"

Audrey nodded frankly. "Definitely. I mean, I don't think you'd do it _consciously_, but I wouldn't be surprised if, in some sort of oblivious way, you end up doing just that."

He was both mildly offended and shocked that she was so right. However, he chose to play off of "offended."

"I resent that."

She rolled her eyes. "Because it's true?"

He frowned. "No, it's insulting. I wouldn't put Annie through that."

She looked at him almost condescendingly. "Because you like her sooo much?"

He stopped walking. "Why are you being such a bitch?"

She stopped walking, too. "I don't know. Stress? Anger? There are a million possibilities, now that I think about it."

He crossed his arms, staring at her. She crossed her own arms over her notebook and quill and stared right back.

"What happens now, Sirius?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but then stopped, both because he was unsure of what to say and because Savannah was calling from higher up the lawn, "Oi! Sirius!"

He turned to look at her, as did Audrey. Sirius forced a smile and raised a hand in greeting, while Audrey glanced at him darkly and murmured, "Have fun with that."

She walked on down the lawn, the wind blowing her hair and robes wildly.

"Hey!" Savannah said when she had caught up, leaning up to kiss Sirius. "Sorry, I just wanted an extra sweater."

Sirius smiled at her more genuinely. "Well, way to keep me waiting. Gosh."

She smiled, too, and took his hand as they began to walk down toward the pitch and Audrey's retreating back.

"Why were you talking to Audrey Granada? New Arithmancy project?"

He nodded idly. "Mmm."

Savannah frowned. "She's planning on watching the tryouts, yeah?"

Sirius shrugged distractedly. "I guess so."

He felt oddly put out. He rather liked Audrey and enjoyed talking to her; she was usually delightfully flippant, quick and easygoing. He did not understand why she had just been so bitchy, and why, when he had called her on it, she had not indifferently brushed aside his comments in favor of continuing the thread of conversation.

Come to think of it, he really didn't know Audrey too well at all. They had been talking an awful lot since becoming partners on that Arithmancy project several weeks ago, but it still felt, to a certain degree, surreal. He wondered if the implausibility of it all had finally gotten to her. He was almost afraid that it had.

_Whatever_, he thought, brushing aside his mild concerns and letting go of Savannah's hand to wrap his arm around her. _Whatever. It doesn't matter one way or the other. I have other friends_.

Then he remembered the second-to-last thing Audrey had said to him before walking off down the lawn: "What happens now, Sirius?"

Damned if he had any idea.

-

Tryouts proved productive. Sirius hadn't played Quidditch since summer, and the exertion pumped him with endorphins and made him happy again, even though Audrey Granada was sitting in the top row of seats, her autumn coat wrapped around her, her hair whipping every which way in the breeze, and her quill quivering slightly as she jotted down notes on prospective Gryffindor players.

At any rate, there was a Hogsmeade trip scheduled for after lunch. Savannah had even convinced Lily to accompany him and James on a double date, and Sirius banished all thoughts of Audrey from his mind, looking forward to what would no doubt be an eventful and amusing afternoon.

Remus had even asked Evetta to accompany him. Gee, shocking.

"You are the most predictable, boring person I have ever met," Sirius had told him with a grin when he had heard the news.

Remus had shrugged. "Well, I like talking to her! It's not a date, it's just… I like talking to her." Then he blushed.

"You are sooo boring, Moony!" James laughed. "God, at least admit that you're halfway into her!"

But Remus shook his head. "No, she's just a friend."

Sirius and James had teased him delightedly for hours.

Now at the Three Broomsticks with Savannah, who looked pretty as always in a white sweater, dark wool stockings and a denim skirt, and Lily, who wore her red hair pulled back in a half ponytail and was sporting a very flattering low-necked black blouse, Sirius felt happy and carefree. These were people he liked, people he was comfortable with. He entertained the idea of many more dates like this, with a Lily who had officially declared her love for James. It was an appealing prospect.

Lily was doing an excellent job of not giving Sirius disapproving looks. She seemed to be getting over the fact that he had pulled some pretty shady shit on her best friend a few weeks earlier, and was all the friendlier for it. James was also doing a grand job of not sounding like an absolute prat, and he had even made Lily laugh a few times.

"This is going so well!" Savannah whispered to Sirius at one point, and he grinned at her and nodded.

After lunch, they made their way through the village. When they reached Gladrags, Savannah said slyly, "Well, Sirius… I think you and I ought to go look at robes, yeah? James, Lily – how about the four of us meet up in another hour at Honeydukes?"

Lily opened her mouth to say something, but Savannah merely grinned. "Great! See you then!"

She grabbed Sirius by the arm and pulled him into the store, leaving a delighted James and an emotionally conflicted Lily behind.

Once they were inside, Sirius and Savannah looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I hope she's polite to him," Sirius remarked with a grin.

Savannah smiled serenely. "Oh, Lily'll be polite. Don't worry, yeah?"

Sirius nodded, and grinned more broadly. "She was _definitely _feeling him during lunch. I was surprised they didn't start snogging right there, what with all that sexual tension."

Savannah giggled. "I know! Shocking, isn't it?"

"Over-under on two weeks for them to get together?" Sirius prodded.

Savannah scoffed. "Under, of course! More like over-under on _tonight_!" Then she laughed. "This is fun. I hope she comes around."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah… well, Jamie's been less of a prat. I'm at least proud of him for trying."

Savannah grinned. "Definitely. And Lily's agreed to give him a legitimate chance. We had a long talk about it last night."

Sirius looked around the store idly. "Did you actually want to shop?"

She grinned again. "Of course not; I just wanted to ditch those two."

He nodded wisely. "I have another brilliant idea: let's head up to the castle right now and not bother meeting up with them ever."

Savannah giggled. "That is indeed a brilliant idea." They linked arms and proceeded out of the shop.

On the way back up the main street, Savannah tugged on Sirius's arm and jerked her head at Remus and Evetta, who were entering a boutique farther up the road. Sirius grinned. "Surprised much?"

Savannah shook her head, delighted. "Not at all. Is Evetta all that sweet?"

Sirius nodded fairly. "I suppose."

Savannah then frowned. "I can't believe you hooked up with her."

Sirius nodded again. "Yeah. Bad call."

Not that he actually cared or anything.

Savannah sighed, and then tightened her grip on his arm and smiled up at him innocently. "You're so immoral, Sirius. All you ever do is corrupt me."

He grinned at her flirtatiously. "Well, you need it. You're far too innocent. 'No sex until marriage?' You're mad."

She grinned, too. "Well, it seemed like a good policy at the time."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, _whatever_. I can only hope that _some_ day you come around."

She laughed. "We'll see."

They passed through the gates onto the grounds and began the march up to the entrance hall.

"Who was the last person you had sex with, Sirius?"

He knew perfectly well: Claire Delacour. But he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell Savannah that, because nobody except the Marauders knew (and also Audrey, he reminded himself), and because bringing up Claire would make him think again about all he sought in a girl, and would make him realize that what he had with Savannah, though great fun, was not what he ultimately wanted.

Well, whatever; he was young and had plenty of time.

"The last person I had sex with was… well, I guess it was Vanity Linus. That was during my 'skank' phase last spring. I dated Leda Mitchell for a while and then got with Vanity. Not the smartest of moves."

Savannah raised her eyebrows at him. "What on earth did you see in either of those two?"

Sirius shrugged, not feeling like this was a necessary conversation. "Well, Leda was all into, like, buying me shit. Like presents. It got kind of annoying after a couple of weeks; I think that's why I decided to cheat on her. And Vanity… she just wanted a good romp in bed."

Savannah was still raising her eyebrows disapprovingly. Sirius gave her a rueful smile. "Annie, this is back when I was an absolute whore. Sixth year was not my best. But now I've grown and matured and… jeez, stop looking at me like that!"

She stopped raising her eyebrows and laughed reassuringly. "Don't worry, Sirius. But truly, why did you do all that?"

He shrugged again. He did not want to talk about this. "I told you, because I was a little slut. I was stupid. I could get away with it. Don't hold it against me; it's all in the past." He paused for good measure, knowing what direction he had to take this in. "And besides, I hadn't met anyone quite as amazing as _you_."

Savannah smiled at him happily. "You got that right." She leaned up and kissed him, and then smiled at him again, her dark eyes sparkling and her blond hair blowing in the breeze. She looked as beautiful at close range as ever. "You know you can tell me anything, Sirius. I won't hold it against you."

He was suddenly blissfully happy. He wasn't sure why; he knew he wouldn't _actually_ tell Savannah everything. But there was something about being loved… he loved it.

"I know."

And then he spoke the words, not because he truly meant them, but because it seemed an appropriate thing to say.

"I love you."

Savannah grinned and said, "I love you, too." And then they kissed one another passionately, halfway up the path to the castle, and then stumbled the rest of the way up to his dormitory.

Sirius had had sex an awful lot of times, but each time he had sex for the first time with a new girl, he remembered it. (Or at least tried to.) Sometimes it was amazing, sometimes it was less so. At any rate, sex with Savannah was definitely one of the better first times.

They hadn't intended to go that far. Or at least, she hadn't. But at some point the heat of the moment overtook them, and Savannah murmured, "Oh, why the bloody hell not?"

Sirius paused for a moment. She was lying on top of him in his bed, and they were both naked. Savannah's tousled hair hung down over each shoulder, and her cheeks were flushed. She looked pretty damn fine. He slid his hands up her bare thighs to her hips and murmured back, "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah. And I mean, I've been thinking about it. Almost since the end of last term, actually. And… yeah. I'm ready."

He grinned naughtily at her. "But what about waiting for marriage?"

She giggled. "Shut up and have sex with me."

So he did.

He flipped her over so that he was on top and ran a finger down between her legs. He kissed her passionately. He tried to be slow and sensuous; he knew it usually hurt girls the first time. But Savannah responded to him and when it was finally all over and he had collapsed on top of her, both of them panting with exhaustion, his brushed his lips gently over hers and gasped, "Thank you."

She kissed him back and whispered, "You're very welcome."

-

James was ecstatic about his date with Lily. Though she hadn't kissed him, or, indeed, touched him at all, he had made her laugh again and again, and – best of all – she had agreed to go on a second date with him.

"She's loving it," Savannah informed Sirius later that evening. "She says she would have kissed him but it would have been giving up too much, too soon. Though – don't tell him, or anything – but if he plays his cards right he _might_ get a hand holding on date number two."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "He'll be over the moon about it."

Savannah flopped down next to him on the common room sofa and nuzzled into the crook of his neck. "So, Sirius, what do you reckon we should do tonight?"

He turned to grin at her. "You really have to ask?"

"One thing that's great about being a witch – contraceptive charms," Savannah observed, turning to stare at the fire. "I swear, my sister is going to be so jealous when I tell her how easy it all is."

Sirius frowned. "Well, what on earth do Muggles use? Do they just cross their fingers and hope for the best?"

Savannah giggled. "Don't worry about it." She kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going to go work on an essay for a bit, but be in your dormitory at, say, ten-ish? I just might drop by."

Sirius quirked one corner of his mouth into a grin. "Can do."

While Savannah was working, he decided to pay a visit to the kitchens. It was not yet past curfew so there was no real reason to bring the Marauder's Map, but all the same, he figured he'd take it along.

As he made his way down the seventh floor corridor and then down to the floors below, he glanced at the map on occasion. Remus was in the library… Savannah was in her dormitory… then he caught sight of a dot labeled Audrey Granada, walking down a corridor parallel to his. She was alone. Acting on a whim, Sirius dashed through a side passage and stepped out in front of her, tucking the map into his robes. "Oi! Audrey!"

She looked up and smiled. "Oh, hey, you."

He strode up to her. "Where are you off to?"

She shrugged. "Dormitory, I guess."

He grinned. "Change it to the kitchens?"

She nodded her consent. "I suppose so."

They set off down the corridor together. He decided to be blunt. "Why were you being so bitchy earlier?"

She was silent for a moment, and then said, "I'm not… I mean… I don't know. I guess partly because I was feeling competitive and sort of… stressed out… what with Quidditch tryouts." She paused for a moment and then continued, "But also partly because I was actually deigning to care about what you were becoming."

He frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged, and swept a strand of dark hair out of her eyes. "I mean… you've just become this… indifferent… Gryffindor… stereotype."

This was not what he had been expecting. "What happened to not judging?"

She laughed a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry. I don't mean like that, just… you're living this perfect little dream right now, you know? You've got a cute girlfriend who's obviously completely enamored of you, you respect her enough to actually be considerate of her feelings, you're doing an excellent job of not letting petting drama get to you…"

Sirius frowned. "I don't see what's wrong with any of that."

Audrey nodded. "That's the thing! Absolutely nothing!" She suddenly looked at him piercingly. "It's really not that at all. What was bothering me, I mean. I know you haven't changed one lick, really. You haven't now and you won't ever."

He was confused. "Jeez, could you be any more cryptic?"

Her expression changed from piercing to thoughtful, and she sighed. "I remembered something last night, Sirius. I didn't realize it was you until last night, I mean. But… well, remember the Twelfth Promenade?"

He stared at her. This was not what he had been expecting at all.

"Come now, I don't know why I even asked; of _course_ you remember the Twelfth Promenade."

He raised one eyebrow. "That was you?"

She nodded. "It was."

He was whirling back to his past in a rush of painful memories. All he had been trying to block out for years and years would not leave him alone. He groaned.

"God _damnit_!"

She raised both of her eyebrows. "And I thought you were the one who didn't like to talk about anything relevant."

He was suddenly furious at her, furious at her for bringing this up. And he understood exactly why she had been so obnoxious earlier.

"God, Audrey. What the bloody hell are you trying to get out of all this?"

She looked apprehensive. "I don't know, Sirius. I don't know. Why does anyone do anything? I'm just curious, I suppose, as to why you–"

"Why I did it?" he interrupted her. "Why I did it? Audrey–" he wanted to never have come down to the kitchens, to still be upstairs with Savannah "–you know _exactly_ why I did it."

She continued to look at him. "That's not good enough," she said in an undertone. "I want you to tell me, Sirius. And believe me – until you understand that there's a difference between knowing everything and being _told_ everything you already know, you'll never get what you want."

"And what do I want, Audrey?" he demanded mockingly. He glared at her then. He couldn't believe he was being suckered into this. "God, Audrey. God. You sure know how to ruin a good mood." He said it without a trace of humor, and she winced.

"Sirius, I just need to know. I need to hear it from you."

He closed his eyes for a moment. Took a deep breath. Said, "Right."

He opened his eyes and she was still standing there, her dark hair hanging to her shoulders, her dark eyes bright. The Twelfth Promenade had been the culmination of everything he now hated about his family, everything he now hated about the world in which he had grown up. And Audrey Granada, right there in the thick of it. Up until this moment, he hadn't even known it was her.

But how could he have been so oblivious? She had had those same dark eyes, that same dark hair – though it had been longer, down to her waist in the style of a young girl.

"Audrey," he said quietly, "I never realized it before, but you represent everything I hate about… about _everything_."

She winced again. "That's a harsh way of putting it."

He realized it was, and he was sorry. "I really don't know you at all."

She shook her head. "It's not what you think, Sirius. Don't make that mistake."

He stared at her. "Why did we become friends in the first place?"

She shrugged. "Shared sympathies, shared experiences. Right now you're complicating things, but ultimately it simply comes down to the fact that we are, for all purposes, alike."

He didn't say anything for a moment, contemplating what she had said. He was surprised by how strongly he thought about her words, not just now, but in previous conversations as well. She was always so sure of herself – had _always_ been so sure of herself. And yet she was able to be confident purely because she understood him so thoroughly.

"Why are you in Slytherin, then?" It was the first thought that came into his mind.

She smiled slightly. "Because I'm ambitious, Sirius. You know that."

He nodded. "I do." He sighed, and ran his hands through his hair. "God, I do."

The Twelfth Promenade, a celebration of all things dark, pure, magical. Held at the winter solstice, it was by turns a sick and fabulous excuse for a party. Sirius remembered, all too well, the first Promenade his parents had allowed him to attend. Ten years of age, he was both excited and terrified. The Twelfth Promenade was so highly anticipated that guests arrived up to an entire week early to prepare themselves for the event. And there Sirius was, suffocated and corrupted by a world of pureblood fanaticism, when all of the sudden –

"I never realized it was you."

"I never realized it was _you_," she replied offhandedly. "Not until last night, anyway."

There was a little girl with dark hair and large dark eyes, a little girl who never said a word.

"Why wouldn't you talk to me?"

"I was afraid to."

"Why?"

"You know why."

He remembered a night of dancing lessons and a wild run through the dark passages of the manor house, all the little children chasing one another and playing hide and seek.

"You were one messed up little kid, Audrey."

She barked out a laugh. "I was not! It was you, Sirius, all you! Before you came to Hogwarts you were just like all the rest of them, you were silly and naïve and carried away with the fear your parents instilled. They were better than all the rest, and my parents knew it, too. And when you suggested that we all–"

He did not want her to go on. "I didn't know any better!" He was angry again, furious at her for bringing this up. "You know that, Audrey! Why the _hell_ are you bringing it up if you already understand?"

She shook her head slowly, imperceptibly. "Because I just realized," she said quickly, quietly, "that being sorted into Gryffindor was the best thing that ever happened to you."

He stared at her in silence. It was true, of course. He knew it was true. Being sorted into Gryffindor had opened up a whole new world for him, had taught him new values and given him a fresh take on life. But, as Audrey saw _so_ fit to remind him, he was still the same.

Still the same.

"Audrey!" He needed to do something, and so he grasped her hands in his and spoke directly to her. "Audrey."

She looked up at him, her expression inscrutable. "I don't hold it against you, Sirius. Any of it. I never will. I don't judge; you know that."

He was gasping for breath. "Then why do you bring it up?" he demanded. "Why do you bring it up, if it doesn't matter?"

She shook her head again. "But it does matter, Sirius," she corrected him. "You will always be that person, and until you accept it…" She trailed off.

He could not believe they were having this conversation. He could not believe that Audrey Granada, an overly-competitive, promiscuous and rather glib Slytherin whom he had, for an entirely inconsequential reason, become on speaking terms with, had reminded him of one of the crowning shames of his life.

"Tell me what happened, Sirius."

"We played Mug – Mud Hunt."

"And I?"

"You were the Mudblood."

He hadn't said the word in ages, and it made him feel impure and tremendously uncomfortable.

She stared at him. "Right."

He gazed back, not sure how to proceed. But then, it was Audrey; he was not afraid to say the wrong thing, because he knew that she would understand.

She always understood.

"God, Audrey. I'm so sorry."

She eyed him thoughtfully. "But you always have been, haven't you?"

He nodded. "Since Hogwarts, at least."

"But you see how you haven't changed? You still don't care about anyone, except the few you _do_ care about."

He felt awful, awkward, unworthy and in general like a terrible person. "I care about you now…" he started.

She continued to look at him. "It's an admirable quality, Sirius. Empathy, I mean. I know that you really do care about those people you truly care about. And I know that you won't change. So really, this morning when I was being a bitch… it was because… well, you know why."

He thought back to that morning, when she had condescendingly commented on how much he "liked" Savannah, and he remembered being ten years old and luring her out of her family's suite to play with them, the little girl who would not talk because she was too shy and too overwhelmed, luring her out and forcing her to play the Mudblood in their dreadful, humiliating game.

He didn't love Savannah. He respected her, he liked her well enough, but ultimately, all he felt was lust. Though then again, he had always known this; and, other than with Claire, he had always felt this.

"You're usually so okay with it, though," he murmured to Audrey. "You usually just laugh and let me do it."

She shrugged slightly. "Because I didn't remember, Sirius. I didn't realize. And now I do, and I wanted you to realize, too."

He sighed. "What should I do, Audrey?" he asked cautiously. "Here you've gone dragging up everything I hate about myself. Hell, what even gives you the right to do that?"

She shook her head, her eyes wide in surprise. "Because your past has shaped you. It's made you unique. And, for whatever reason, I've taken it upon myself to make that painfully obvious to you." Suddenly she laughed. "I'm quite awful as well, truly. I always knew it about you, I just didn't care until I realized you did the same thing to me. At heart, I'm just as apathetic as you are, Sirius."

He laughed as well, looking over her dark hair at the stone wall across the corridor. "So we can be apathetic together."

"And appreciate our apathy," she added helpfully.

"And ultimately be happy?" he suggested.

"Of course."

They were silent for a moment. Then Audrey smiled.

"So have you shagged Savannah yet?" she asked pleasantly.

He grinned and laughed and resisted the urge to step in and hug her tightly in a bout of relief that this was all over.

"Might've."

She giggled. "Kinky. She any good?"

He laughed again. "None of your business, right?"

She grinned. "Right." Then she winked at him and as she turned to go added, "Anyway, we'll have to go to the kitchens some other time."

He nodded in agreement. "Of course. Still, good talk."

She smiled at him warmly, her dark eyes shining. "Very."

-

Talking to Audrey Granada did strange things to him. He never mentioned her observations and comments to anyone else, not to the Marauders and not to Savannah, but he thought about them profusely. Audrey was a non-judgmental link to his overtly judgmental past, and being able to spill his innermost thoughts to her was like an addicting drug: he couldn't stop, even though it was at times painful.

Later that night, when Savannah crawled into his four-poster clad in a white T-shirt and blue plaid pajama bottoms and magically sealed the curtains shut, he found himself still lost in thought.

"What's up?" she asked curiously, snuggling up against him.

Sirius slid an arm around her and stared up at the canopy overhead. He knew there was no way he could make her understand; Savannah had grown up in a loving, middleclass Muggle household, and the idea of the Twelfth Promenade, of rigorous etiquette and social restrictions, of centuries of dark tradition, of the integral concept of "toujours pur" – all this was completely alien to her. She would never understand what it was to have a family that hated one of its children, she would never experience the radical shift in perspective a new, academic world provided, and she would never look back on her past beliefs and actions with utter disdain.

Sirius envied this about Savannah, and he cherished her innocence. He loved the fact that the worst thing she could ever fathom doing was relishing another girl's envy. Savannah had no memories of a warped, oppressive childhood. She had never tricked a little girl into playing Mud Hunt in the dank, gloomy passages of an ancient hall.

And she did not have Audrey Granada informing her that, though her beliefs might change, her outlook and personality would not.

Jeez, why had he even started talking to Audrey in the first place? She was forcing him to reevaluate his entire carefree outlook on life, but because he failed to see what she might gain from it, and because she did not judge him one way or the other, he was unable to resent her. Instead, he simply listened and thought.

He inclined his head to kiss Savannah's blond hair. It hung down around her shoulders, still slightly damp from the shower. Her head smelled of roses and lavender, and she smiled up at him. "What's wrong, Sirius?"

He shook his head slowly, not sure how to briefly and adequately sum up his thoughts and feelings. "Just thinking about… about the past."

She eyed him thoughtfully, compassionately. "You want to talk about it?"

He really did adore Savannah, he realized. He did not love her, for they did not have intimacy, and until he somehow overcame his inability to talk about his family, they would never have intimacy – but the mere fact that Savannah cared was what mattered. Knowing that Savannah wanted to hear what he had to say in spite of being unable to ever understand or relate to it made Sirius content.

He smiled at her. "Nope. Like I said, it's the past."

She smiled back at him, her sharp features more beautiful than ever, her dark eyes bright even in the dim light filtering through the heavy curtains. He leaned down and kissed her, softly at first and then more and more urgently. All he wanted now was hot, steamy, passionate sex – something to take his mind off of everything, something to get lost in.

He rolled over on top of her, pinning her to the bed. He yanked Savannah's T-shirt off, and her head sank down into the pillows with a sigh as he trailed kissed down her neck and over her breasts. He pulled off her plaid cotton pajama bottoms and busied himself running his fingers over and into certain places until she groaned, "God, Sirius!"

He did not bother undressing; he merely unbuttoned his trousers and spread her legs, sliding back up to kiss her passionately as she gasped out with every thrust.

Afterward, he held her tenderly in his arms. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

She sighed rapturously. "No…"

He smiled into her hair and touched her tongue with his ear. "Not even at the beginning?"

She sighed again, still short on breath. "Well maybe a little at the beginning, but…" She trailed off, then leaned her head around to kiss him fully. Looking deep into his eyes she observed, "Waiting until marriage would have been just about the worst decision of my life."

He grinned at her, and laughed gently, and after kissing her again they fell asleep together beneath the high canopy of the bed.

Things were sure looking up.

---

Reviews!

**La Mariposa -Carp-**,** Pazas 1917**, **beckers123**,** Paddie'sGirl**, **Nicoley117-MissBlueMartini**,** MaraudingChick**, **Freja Lercke-Falkenborg**,** dixio**,** Padfootz-luvr, Potpoury**,** Miss Marauderess **and** lavizsla** – Thank you all sooo much for reviewing!

Also thanks to anybody who put me on their list of favorite stories/favorite authors/author alert/story alert/etc. I decided to update when I realized I had 100 reviews. It just makes me feel loved and inspired.

I also realize this chapter only covered, like, one day. Next chapter shall span more time and include (did you guess?) more drama! After all, it _is_ Sirius; he can't avoid drama for _that _long.

On that note, I've outlined the rest of the plot, and this story won't be ending any time soon.

Please review :)

Love,

Simone


	12. A Simple Misunderstanding

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **T, if that… but the next one will be M again

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

**A/N: **I know it's been wicked long… like what, three, four months? I apologize. But I've been busy applying to college and enjoying Second Semester Senior Year. It's a party.

Bon appetite!

* * *

Chapter Twelve

_A Simple Misunderstanding_

Sirius received a letter on Monday morning. An owl swooped down into the Great Hall and dropped the beige-colored envelope into his scrambled eggs.

"Who's it from?" Savannah, who was sitting across from him, asked as he flicked off the bits of egg and turned the envelope over.

"We're about to find out."

Savannah smiled indulgently and took another bite of her own eggs.

Sirius slit the envelope open and extracted the letter within. He glanced over it quickly, and felt his heartbeat quicken slightly.

Claire.

"It's from Claire Delacour," he informed Savannah casually.

James and Remus both looked up. "What does she want?" James asked, as Remus gave Sirius what was almost a warning look.

Sirius shrugged, folded the letter, and slid it into his pocket. "Who knows? Anyway, I'll read it later."

Savannah's smile was now faint, but appreciative. "So… did everyone finish their papers for transfiguration?"

His friends bantered on about school matters, but Sirius was rife with anticipation. He hadn't heard from Claire since summer, and already, just having a letter from her in his pocket, he was missing her. Not in a heartbreaking, emotional way – no, just as one might miss a good friend.

This was what he told himself, anyway.

-

He dashed into the bathroom to read the letter on the way to class.

_Dear Sirius, _it began. _How on earth _are_ you? I have loads of stories I want to tell you; I've just spent the last three months traveling and it's been fabulous. I learned some Arabic and rode a magic carpet and met the craziest people, you have no idea! I wish you were here – platonically, I mean. Hah. I got your postcard, it made me laugh –_

Sirius paused for a moment, trying to remember what he had written in reply to the postcard she had sent him over the summer. Then it came to him: he'd ended the card with a single "X" and written, "I don't kiss cheeks."

Gee, witty.

He turned back to the letter.

– _and I hope you're having a really fantastic seventh year. Don't do anything too silly, you're a great guy when you put your mind to it!_

_So anyway, I'm actually writing you because I'm going to be coming up to Scotland tomorrow on some business for my new job – I'm interning at the French ministry and they're sending me to Edinburgh on assignment. But I also get to go up to Hogsmeade on Friday to meet up with a client, and, if you're not busy, I was wondering if you wanted to come get a drink with me and catch up on everything!_

_Hah, sorry if that sounds very suggestive; I really mean it a very professional way. I miss you!_

_Yours,_

_Claire_

He leaned against the wall. Well, this sounded exceptionally fun! He wondered how serious Claire was about all of this "platonic" business.

He paused for a moment – maybe she had actually changed a lot over the past three months of traveling. Maybe she was now completely loyal to Hector Zabini. Or – maybe not? He wasn't sure what to make of this situation. He was sure there was more to it than could be said in a letter; there _had_ to be more to it.

His old adoration of Claire was slowing rekindling. He wondered if she still looked the same, if she still acted the same. Maybe she had aged years in the months she'd been away. Would everything be just as it was, or would it be different?

At least it wouldn't be awkward. That would be impossible.

In the end, Sirius resolved that all he could do was reply to the letter in the affirmative and then spend all week waiting for Friday.

Anyway, there really was no point in going to Transfiguration today; he had to consider this new development. He hurried through the corridors, which were rapidly emptying as students found their classes, and up to his dormitory, where he pulled out a sheet of parchment and penned a response.

_Why, Claire!_

_It would be a pleasure to come meet you strictly professionally! I've missed you too – fancy that. I also have loads to tell you about; I've done some silly stuff that you'll probably think is hilarious and/or appalling (but hopefully the former), and I'm currently embroiled in a weird sort of friendship with the last person you (and I mean you, personally) would ever expect. I can't give away any more than that, though! I look forward to surprising and amazing you. I'll meet you at the Hog's Head at eight o'clock, how about?_

_Yours in exceedingly professional anticipation,_

_Sirius Black_

He smiled at his candor and sent the letter at once.

-

The week seemed needlessly long, and largely pointless. Class was nondescript. Sex was standard. Friends were same ole, same ole.

Sirius gave Savannah a brief synopsis of his correspondence with Claire, and explained equally concisely – and vaguely – that they had been good friends the previous year. Savannah nodded thoughtfully and moved on, regarding the issue as not very important.

Remus asked Sirius what exactly he was hoping to glean from all of this.

"Did you tell Annie what the real deal is with you two?" he asked hesitantly.

Sirius shook his head at once. "Of course not. Nobody knows about that; it's irrelevant."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Well I would think Annie had a right to know about your previous sexual relationships…"

Sirius shrugged. "Why? It's unimportant. It'll only worry her. There's no way anything will happen with Claire, mate; she's completely in love with Zabini. I just happen to like her as a person and would very much like to catch up with her."

Remus nodded grudgingly. "Be _sure_ that that's all you do, though, Padfoot," he said. "You really don't want to hurt Annie. She's… well, you don't want to hurt her. Trust me."

Now, Sirius rolled his eyes. "Duh. Don't worry, Moony; I'm not a complete idiot. I care plenty about Annie and her feelings."

He wasn't sure he really did, though. He felt consumed by the premise of seeing Claire Delacour for the first time since last term. He received a response from her on Wednesday, a cheerful,

_Hi, Sirius!_

_Eight o'clock would be excellent! I'll see you then. I look forward to hearing about what a bad boy you've been._

_Best,_

_Claire_

By Thursday Sirius could hardly stand the anticipation. He wasn't sure what he was so excited about – he knew he wouldn't be having sex with Claire, or anything like that. He told himself that it would be a completely platonic meeting. It wouldn't be fair to anyone to make it be more than that. He still liked Savannah, as unlike Claire as she was, and he wasn't about to create more needless drama with a girl who didn't even attend Hogwarts.

Actually, because Claire did not attend Hogwarts, Sirius realized that nobody would ever know whether or not he "did" anything with her over the course of this Friday excursion. But he kept silent on the matter, not wanting to hear Remus's displeasure or James's hesitance to support anything that Lily might disapprove of.

The only person he could talk to was Audrey Granada, who, for whatever perverse reason, always understood where he was coming from.

"You're meeting up with Claire?" she repeated, amused. "Don't get her pregnant; Savannah might be a bit annoyed."

Sirius smiled tolerantly. "It's platonic. She's just in town and… we're friends. There's no reason not to meet up."

Audrey rolled her eyes and laughed a bit. "Don't pretend you're not still in love with her. And she probably still loves you, too."

Sirius stared at Audrey for a moment, reflecting, as always, on the inherent truth behind her words.

"I _do_ love her, I guess," Sirius admitted. "But I mean… it's almost in the abstract, you know? I mean, I haven't talked to her in months. At this point it's more just… just…"

"…The idea of her?" Audrey put in. "The idea of that perfect girl who totally gets you and totally flirts with you and is so totally out of reach?"

He nodded. "Exactly!"

Audrey smiled at him sadly. "And _that's_ why you really shouldn't do anything with her, Sirius," she said. "If you shatter that ideal, that concept, you'll just fall completely back in love with the real her, and _then_ where will you be?"

He stared at her again. Per usual, Audrey Granada had hit the nail right on the head. It wasn't for Savannah, or anyone else, that he couldn't do anything more than talk to Claire – it was for himself. Hooking up with Claire would mean a guaranteed descent into inconvenient, mildly emo love.

And that was the last thing he wanted.

-

He was at the Hog's Head exactly on time, which was unlike him. Claire did not arrive right away; he remembered how unpunctual she was, and smiled, supremely unconcerned. He ordered a butterbeer and found a table near the back.

Claire sauntered in about ten minutes later. She was wearing a fitted off-white autumn coat and dark plaid scarf with thin strands of violet – the same violet as her eyes – visible in it. Her hair was back in a ponytail, her eyes were as bright as ever, and her high cheeks were flushed from the brisk wind. She looked just as beautiful as Sirius had remembered – only more so, because she looked exceedingly professional, too.

He stood up to catch her attention, and she saw him and grinned.

"Hi!" she said cheerfully, hurrying up to him.

"Hey," he replied casually, looking her up and down.

They smiled at one another, and Sirius was thrilled by how completely at ease he felt.

Claire leaned forward and kissed him once on each cheek.

"Per your postcard?" he asked lightly.

She nodded. "You can't do yours, though; it would violate the professionalism."

He nodded, too. "Unfortunate."

She grinned, and laughed. "Oh man… did I ever miss you!"

He grinned back. "I missed you too."

They smiled some more.

Sirius cleared his throat. "Well… let's sit down, shall we? You want a drink?"

She obliged, he ordered them a cocktail each, and they leaned back in their chairs to discuss their lives.

"Still pseudo-engaged to dear Hector?" Sirius inquired.

She rolled her eyes at him and smiled. "Yes. Yes, I am."

"And where is he right now?" Sirius asked. Not that he particularly cared.

Claire laughed. "Like you care! But he's in Paris."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully.

"How's Savannah Baron? Still going strong?"

Sirius shrugged. "I guess… but I mean, it's still pretty… school-y. There's no way it'll keep up after we leave Hogwarts."

Claire frowned. "Why not?" She shook one finger at him in disapproval. "Sirius! I thought you were going to find a girl who made you feel the same way _I_ did!"

He grinned at her broadly, unable to stop himself. "Well, I've tried, but it's been more difficult than anyone would hope."

She giggled. "Try harder! I want you to be happy, Sirius!"

He raised one eyebrow. "Well, there are _plenty _of ways for you to help me with that, but supposedly we're keeping this professional."

Claire tried not to smile, but failed. "Sirius…" she began. But then she simply shook her head, took a sip of her cocktail, and observed, "I've really missed you."

He told her about his summer, about Tara and Evetta, about Savannah. As he had expected, Claire was far more amused than appalled.

"Sirius!" she exclaimed, laughing. "You're _terrible_! I always _knew_ you were more manipulative than I was… I mean, _I_ could never have gotten away with _that_ much!"

He grinned. "I think there was a compliment in there somewhere."

She grinned back, her dimples showing. "Sure; why not?"

They talked about their futures, about his plans for after Hogwarts, about her plans for a career.

She pulled out his letter at one point. "Your letter made me laugh," she remarked. She skimmed over it, and asked, "Who's the weird friend I'd never expect?"

He looked her straight in the eyes and said, "You'll never guess."

She laughed easily. "There's no point in trying then; you should just tell me."

He nodded. "Alright: Audrey Granada."

Claire raised her eyebrows, taken aback. "Really? But she's such a… I mean, maybe she's changed, but…"

Sirius shrugged, and smiled. "She's insane. But I dunno, she makes me think about stuff. She really gets me, you know? I mean she's from the same background, I guess… but I don't know. It's kind of surreal."

Claire nodded slowly. "Very surreal. How on earth did you end up friends with Audrey Granada, Sirius? I thought you two were kind of… well, just that you would have absolutely no reason to talk to one another ever."

He nodded, too. "We had to be partners in Arithmancy, actually. And then… I dunno, we just got to talking. And now we're best friends! It's fun."

Claire laughed a bit. "Do you like her?"

He frowned. "Of course I like her."

Claire rolled her eyes. "No no, I mean, do you _like_ her?"

He laughed easily. "Ah, gotcha. No – I mean, she's just… Audrey. She's not like any of the other girls – or boys, for that matter – at least around me. But it's not like she's… _you_ or anything. She just sort of… doesn't judge me. It's nice. Different."

Claire nodded. "I mean, I've never been a big fan of hers, what with her trying to get with Hector a few times and all, but… I can see how that could be an amusing, ironic twist: you and me, her and Hector, sort of, and then the two of you become friends… you know?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow in exaggerated confusion, and Claire laughed and batted him on the arm. "You know what I mean!"

He grinned at her apologetically. "Yeah. I do. And I agree; the irony is so sickeningly obvious that we should've seen it coming."

Claire nodded again. "What do your friends say? And Savannah?"

Sirius frowned. "About Audrey?"

Claire nodded.

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know… I mean, they don't really know much about it. I don't really talk to them about her; I just… talk to her. About her. And me. And everything."

Claire smiled at him. "Well, that's something…"

They talked for hours, and drank remarkably little. Sirius felt that it was all an odd dream, a detour from the standard routine of Gryffindor life to spill everything to the only girl he'd ever loved.

When he returned to Hogwarts long past midnight, he was still reeling.

Talking to Claire had torn him out of the daydream he had been occupying. Talking to Audrey tended to do that, too, but while talking to Audrey left him introspective, talking to Claire left him immensely dissatisfied. Love was so transient, and he missed it. He was glad Audrey had pointed out that danger of hooking up with Claire: that it would drag him back into impossible love, and that this time around, it would be harder to escape.

Sirius had enough faith in his own charm to know that, had he really wanted to, he could have spent the entire night with Claire. But thankfully, he had managed to keep his wits about him – for he was abundantly aware that getting with Claire would have been emotional suicide.

He stumbled up to bed but then lay awake thinking about greater things than himself for several hours.

-

Hogsmeade the next morning could not have been more unfulfilling. Sirius sat with Savannah, James, Lily, Remus and Evetta Niall at the Three Broomsticks, listening to the classic banter about this, that and the next thing.

He wanted more.

He wanted love.

He wasn't sure why he was so damn emo when he hadn't even hooked up with Claire, but either way, he didn't like it. It was thoroughly unlike him. He felt the same way he had felt for the week after Hector had walked in on him and Claire: dispassionate, immune to flirting, and in something of a daze.

_Why?_ he couldn't help but wonder. _Why? Why can't I just get over myself and enjoy the day?_

He said he was tired after the late night and left the Three Broomsticks, intending to go back up to the castle and perhaps take a nap – anything to chill the hell out.

He didn't get to nap – at least not as soon as he had intended.

He ran into Audrey Granada, who was walking into Gladrags with a group of friends. Feeling completely indifferent to Slytherin-Gryffindor antipathy, Sirius called, "Audrey!"

She looked up, surprised. They generally didn't talk to one another around their other friends. Audrey's companions looked equally perplexed.

"C'mere," he suggested, and she came over.

"What's up?" She peered at him curiously. "How was last night?"

He inhaled deeply, and then slowly exhaled. "Want to hear about it?"

She nodded, taking in his evident gloominess without comment. "Sure."

He nodded back. "Alright. Come up to the castle with me."

She hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Okay." She turned to her friends, called, "I'll meet up with you lot later!" and turned away with him toward the road back to Hogwarts.

He smiled slightly. "Whatever will your friends think?"

She shrugged. "Who cares?"

He grinned then. "Exactly."

She frowned. "Anyway, emo-boy, what on earth happened to you?"

He sighed. "I'm just… _so_ _fucking bored_."

She raised her eyebrows. "Are you? Did Claire remind you of what it's like to be in love, or something?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

She clucked her tongue at him. "You didn't–"

He shook his head rapidly. "No, no, I'm not stupid. I knew what would have happened if I… if I'd done that."

She nodded. "Good. Well, it's probably only temporary then, right? You'll get over it in a few days and go right back to Savannah and that Gryffindor cheerfulness and all of that. Don't worry too much."

He smiled genuinely. Audrey tended to be correct about things, at least where he was concerned.

People were giving them curious looks as they walked down the street.

"Do people really not know that we're friends?" he observed, glancing around.

She shrugged. "Apparently not. I mean, we're sort of… inadvertently discreet, and after all, it _is_ a bit unusual isn't it? But like I said before: who cares?"

He grinned broadly. "Absolutely no one."

They made it back to the castle, and then went up through the Gryffindor common room to his dormitory.

"The Gryffindor common room's pretty nice," she observed, "but I think our dormitories may be better. Though then again, it could be because I'm a girl."

They sat down on his four-poster. Sirius leaned back into the pillows and Audrey lay down next to him.

"I'm just… I don't know what to do. I just feel so entirely unfulfilled."

Audrey was silent for a moment. Then she said, "You sound so ridiculously emo. I don't think you quite get it. Get the hell over yourself, Sirius! This is _not_ you! Your social life lacks _nothing_! If there's anything you're unhappy about, it's just that you're not as happy as you could be – so change it! Find what you need to be happy!"

He laughed hollowly. "You're an excellent motivational speaker."

She grinned up at the canopy. "Hey, I do my best."

He turned his head to look at her. Audrey Granada, the most unexpected friend in the world. Her dark hair was spread around her head on the pillow, and her short bangs curled over her forehead and slightly to the left. She was gazing at the canopy of his bed, and he admired her profile, her strong features. Audrey was undeniably pretty – but he never thought of her that way. She was just Audrey.

His Audrey.

"God, Audrey. It's absolutely ridiculous that we're friends."

She turned her head to smile at him. "But it's fun, isn't it?"

He nodded, his gray eyes inches from her dark brown ones. "Very."

They both turned back toward the canopy, and lay in silence for a few moments.

"Want to take a nap?" she suggested.

He nodded. "That sounds like an excellent idea."

They both sat up, and Sirius pulled back the comforter. Audrey slid underneath, and Sirius made himself comfortable next to her. He sighed, feeling exceptionally exhausted. Sleep was moments away.

-

He awoke to a very angry Savannah Baron saying in clipped tones, "Care to wake up any time soon?"

He opened his eyes. Outside, the sky was blending into hues of purple, red and gold as the sun set. Audrey stirred next to him, and glanced up at Savannah as well.

"We didn't do anything," she said quietly.

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, seriously. We just napped."

Savannah nodded, too, looking incredibly bitter. "Whatever. I know plenty about you, Audrey Granada. Don't even pretend to pull sincerity on me." She turned her gaze to Sirius. "Wow. Just, wow."

With that, she turned around and stomped out of the room.

"Sweet girl, that one," Audrey observed. "Think I should leave now?"

Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, probably. She'll come around, anyway. I'm not worried."

Audrey nodded. "Yeah. Well, let me know how that turns out."

He nodded, too. "I'll keep you informed."

Audrey climbed out of the bed and ran her fingers through her hair. She pulled on her shoes and started across the dormitory toward the door.

Remus and Peter burst in.

"Hey, Padfoot, why's Annie so–" Peter then caught sight of Audrey and raised his eyebrows in complete shock "–upset..." He stopped walking and stared from Audrey to Sirius and back again. "_Wow_. I mean, _wow_."

Audrey exhaled audibly in annoyance and said without enthusiasm, "It's all a misunderstanding."

Sirius nodded, and rolled his eyes. "Get over yourself, Wormtail; nothing happened."

Remus had said nothing. He, too, was looking from Sirius to Audrey in mild disbelief.

"See you around, Sirius," Audrey called, brushing past Peter and Remus and out of the room.

"Later," Sirius replied.

Remus and Peter watched the door click shut behind Audrey, and then turned to stare at Sirius.

"Um… are you going to explain?" Remus asked hesitantly.

Sirius shrugged, feeling almost annoyed. "Explain what?" he demanded. "We did absolutely nothing. She's my friend; we were talking. Not against the law, is it?"

Remus hesitated, then ventured, "Er… no offense, Sirius, but do you really expect us to believe–"

Sirius rolled his eyes, sick of this conversation already. However, he had managed to regain his poise. "Offense taken," he replied lightly, smiling a bit. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I feel I ought to go make sure Annie hasn't gotten the wrong impression of the situation."

He pulled on a new sweater, stepped into his shoes and brushed his teeth mechanically, all without speaking to Remus and Peter. Then he walked briskly out of the room, closing the door carefully behind him. He made his way down the dormitory stairs to the common room, where, just as he had expected, Annie was sitting, staring into the fireplace, her brow furrowed.

"Hey," he said, sitting down casually on the sofa next to her. She refused to look at him, so he continued, "Nothing happened. I mean… I suppose it looked a bit suspicious, but honestly… I would never cheat on you. And especially not with Audrey Granada."

Savannah looked away from the fire and met his eyes. Her own eyes were red, but dry, as if she had cried for a little while but then found solace and stopped.

"Funny… that's exactly what she said."

Sirius frowned. "Come again?"

Savannah frowned, too, but not angrily. "I mean… when Granada came downstairs, I was sitting here waiting for Lily to come back, and she came up, knelt down in front of me and said, 'Baron, you're being silly. He wouldn't cheat on you, especially not with me.'"

Sirius nodded. "Oh. Yeah, she's right. I wouldn't." To himself, he pondered why this might be. Did he respect Savannah's feelings too much? No, or else he wouldn't have let himself fall into such a compromising position with Audrey in the first place. Was he afraid of ruining his friendship with Audrey by taking things to the next level? No, he had never in his life felt that the end of an epic friendship was a sufficient deterrent to hooking up with a pretty girl.

He remembered something he had once said to Audrey, that day in the library when they had first got to talking and had realized they were destined for friendship.

"I've never managed to be 'just friends' with a girl before," he had informed her, bemused.

"I'll be the first, then," she had replied, without missing a beat.

So perhaps the reason he would never cheat on Savannah, _especially_ not with Audrey, was because Audrey herself wouldn't let him. He almost frowned; this was not the reason he had been hoping for. It implied that, if not for Audrey's reluctance, he would be completely up for hooking up with her.

But really, if he was going purely off of testosterone, he _would_ be up for it. Audrey was attractive and experienced. The part of him that would not allow himself to hook up with Audrey was the side she had been forcing out into the open, the side that recognized who he was and was disappointed by it. Hooking up with Audrey would be classic Sirius, would be the same Sirius who had forced Audrey to play the Mudblood at the Twelfth Promenade, who had misled Tara Nevan and used Evetta Niall and hurt Savannah Baron.

Suddenly, he didn't want to talk to Savannah. It felt like an utter waste of time. He wanted to go find Audrey and share this latest revelation with her.

He resolved to finish this matter as quickly as possible.

"I'm very sorry, Annie – really, I am," Sirius said. "But I mean… nothing happened. I guess it looked a little bit… weird… but it was completely innocent."

Savannah raised her eyebrows. "What happened, exactly? Tell me start to finish."

Sirius nodded. "Well… I was feeling sort of off down in the village, so I resolved to go up to the castle and take a nap. I ran into Audrey on the way up the road, and we started talking about… I don't know… lots of stuff."

"How often do you talk to Audrey Granada, Sirius?" Savannah asked, her voice wavering between curiosity and annoyance.

He shrugged, as if this were a matter of little importance. "Often enough. We were partners for that project, remember? And then we got to talking… we knew each other when we were little kids, see? She's not a… pure-blood fanatic or anything, so she's really just like an old family friend. We talk about things from… you know, 'back in the day.'"

Internally, Sirius briefly recapped this explanation, and decided that it sounded true enough, even if it had almost no relevance to his real relationship with Audrey.

Savannah looked immensely surprised. "I had no idea. Well, how did you end up asleep in the same bed?"

Sirius shrugged again. "Pretty easily. We were sort of chatting and went upstairs to look over some Arithmancy notes and then realized we were pretty tired and figured we'd sleep. We weren't… touching one another under the blankets or anything. We were each on our own side of the bed."

Savannah nodded slowly. "Sirius… you realize that that was pretty inconsiderate of you, right?"

He was about to shrug a third time, but caught himself at the last moment and nodded. "Yeah, I do. I'm sorry. I was just tired and not really thinking about… repercussions or anything, you know? But my intentions were completely innocent. And, I mean, so were Audrey's."

Savannah gave off a ghost of a smile. "I think you should spend less time with Audrey Granada and more with me, Sirius."

He nodded. "Okay." He was lying, though; there was no way he would want to – or, for that manner, be physically _able_ to – stop talking to Audrey. He quirked one corner of his mouth into a smile and shook his hair out of his eyes. "Forgive me, then?"

Savannah giggled despite herself, and nodded. "I suppose. But… be more considerate."

Sirius smiled more fully. "Of course." He leaned forward expectantly. "Feel free to kiss me any time now."

Savannah laughed, leaned forward, and pecked him on the lips. Sirius sat back and grinned at her. "Anyway, I'm starving, and, unless I miss my guess, dinner already happened…"

Savannah smiled. "Yeah, and it was excellent. Pity you were _asleep_…"

He rolled his eyes and whined exaggeratedly, "Hey, you said you forgave me!" Internally, he groaned: he wanted to get out of here, he wanted to get out of here –

Savannah laughed again, shoved his arm playfully, and kissed him on the cheek.

Sirius smiled quickly. "On that note, I'm off to the Kitchens."

Sirius stood up, squeezed Savannah's hand and made his way toward the portrait hole.

-

Not much to his surprise, Audrey was already in the Kitchens, helping herself to French onion soup and hunks of baguette and being waited upon by several house elves. She had pulled her dark hair back in a low ponytail to keep it out of her face and she looked up when Sirius entered.

"Did she forgive you?"

Sirius nodded. "Of course."

Audrey nodded, too. "Of course," she repeated.

Sirius asked the nearest elf for some soup of his own, and sat down next to Audrey. They ate in silence for a few moments. Then Sirius spoke. "I was wondering… well, I mean, we both told her the same thing: that I wouldn't cheat on her, especially not with you. And, I mean… why is that?"

Audrey frowned in thought. "Because I wouldn't let you, maybe?"

He laughed despite himself. "That doesn't speak much of me, does it?"

She laughed a bit, too. "No, it doesn't."

He thought for a moment and then said, "Well… I don't know if I could let myself ever… do anything with you, because it would be like… like _that_ side of me, you know? That old side."

Audrey nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, it would be. Or I mean… under present circumstances, it would be."

He laughed. "'Under present circumstances?' So later on, everything would be just peachy?"

She shrugged unconcernedly. "It's possible."

Again, they ate their soup without speaking for a few minutes. The only sound was the crunching of the baguette's crust as they took turns tearing off pieces.

"Do you think you'd… still not be judgmental if… you know… circumstances ever changed?" Sirius asked at length, thinking hard about how to word the question. He laughed halfheartedly. "That's such an unlike-me thing to say."

Audrey nodded thoughtfully. "I mean… there's not much to judge, is there? I'd judge you if I learned something new, but I already know you very well, you know? I appreciate your redeeming qualities and accept your flaws."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "And what gives you the right to do that, Audrey Granada?" he demanded – but pleasantly. "What on earth are you getting out of showing me how to be introspective? What's in it for you?"

Audrey turned to smile at him. "Everyone doesn't always need a reason for everything, now do they?"

Sirius tossed his hair out of his eyes and surveyed her with exaggerated critique. "Sure they do – ultimately, anyway." He leaned forward to stare at her piercingly. "Now you, Audrey, what's your motive?"

She laughed and shook her head. "I don't know! I just like you, I guess. You're more interesting than most of the people at this school, and you have that… that mystique, you know?"

He shook his head, too. "'Mystique?'"

She grinned at him then. "Sirius! You know exactly what I mean! You're this brooding, tall-dark-and-handsome man-slut who obviously suffers from repressed angst! _Every_ girl is intrigued by that!"

He sat back and laughed. Though in retrospect it was quite obvious, this was not what he had been expecting. "So is it all a… a fun pastime for you, then?" He pouted out his lower lip exaggeratedly. "Really, Audrey, I thought you had a better reason for befriending me than being intrigued by my bad-boy sex appeal – intriguing as it may be."

Audrey laughed, too. "I _do_! I'm not _that_ shallow! I don't think of it as a sex thing, Sirius; I think of it more as a… I don't know. You just seemed so willing to talk to me, and I didn't understand why… I mean, then I realized that we were basically the same… but, at first, it was just like… I don't know, I just like connecting with people!"

Sirius smiled gently. "No offense, but that doesn't seem very Slytherin of you, Audrey."

She grinned impishly. "Sure it does! It's only when you truly understand a person that you can manipulate them!"

He burst out laughing as she clapped her hands to her mouth in shock. "That's not what I meant! I'm not trying to manipulate you!"

He grinned at her. "I know, I know. You couldn't, anyway; _I'm _always the one who does the manipulating."

She eyed him shrewdly. "Oh, don't be so sure, Sirius. I'll bet I could manipulate you if I wanted to."

He grinned more broadly. "Do I detect a challenge?"

She laughed and set down her empty soup bowl; a house elf scurried over, grabbed it in both arms and rushed off to clean it.

"Well, would you like to make a challenge of it, Sirius?" she inquired politely, folding her hands in her lap.

He nodded fairly. "It could be entertaining… just so long as it's not…"

"–Malicious?" she put in. "Yeah, only _positive_ manipulation."

He grinned. "Alright… well, how are we going to judge this?"

She grinned back. "Well, it'll be pretty obvious when I win."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, sure… well, just for convention's sake, how do we measure when it's over?"

She frowned in thought. "Mmm… how about we have until the end of the weekend? And we'll each have an objective – something we're trying to get the other to do. And it needs to be something that we wouldn't do 'just because;' it needs to be something out of the ordinary. Something we wouldn't want to do otherwise."

He nodded. "Alright. But we can't tell one another what it is, right?"

She shook her head. "Of course not. But we'll write it down, alright?"

He nodded again. "Yeah. Oi!" He called the nearest house elf over. "Could you bring us two quills and two pieces of parchment?"

"Oh, _certainly_, sir!" the elf squeaked, rushing off for a few moments before returning with the requested items.

Sirius thought for a few moments about what he wanted to manipulate Audrey into doing. His first thought was to make her break some rule or… no, that wouldn't do.

Quite frankly, the only thing he could really see her not doing of her own volition – and he wasn't sure if this bothered him very much or not – was hooking up with him. But he couldn't hook up with Audrey purely as part of a game; it would be needlessly cruel to… Savannah or whatever.

He considered. Maybe he'd just manipulate her into kissing him. No sentiment behind the kiss, of course; he just wanted to see if she'd do it. She had just claimed earlier that she would never be down to hook up with him, and he had verified that he felt similarly.

Under present circumstances, anyway.

Sirius scrawled, "_I want to manipulate her into kissing me_" on his parchment and stuck it in his pocket.

As they stood up to leave the kitchens, he turned to look at her. "So how's the romance front, Audrey?" he inquired briskly. "Still getting with my brother, or are you over that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Long over it. I haven't hooked up with anyone since nearly two weeks ago… haven't been feeling it, you know?"

He nodded. "That can happen."

He opened the painting for her and gestured her outside into the empty corridor. "I'll walk you to your common room?" he suggested.

She laughed a bit. "That would be simply _charming_."

They walked side by side down the hall.

"Savannah says she doesn't want me spending time with you anymore," he remarked.

Audrey frowned. "Even though we didn't do anything? Well… I suppose that's reasonable. But you're failing dreadfully; aren't you ashamed?"

Then she grinned at him to show that she was kidding. Sirius laughed.

"Not ashamed at all. I'll hang out with whomever I like."

They went down several staircases until they reached the dungeon where the Slytherin common room lay.

"Well… good night," said Audrey, turning to smile at him. Her dark eyes shown in the dim torchlight of the passageway.

Sirius grinned mischievously at her, and, with a rush of good-humored flirtatious fun, leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.

Audrey's eyes widened, and she burst out laughing. "But I didn't need to manipulate you at all!"

Sirius laughed on instinct but then caught himself. "What?"

She pulled out her own slip of parchment, unfolded it and handed it to him.

Scrawled in perfect pureblood calligraphy were the words, "_Get him to kiss me_."

Sirius laughed and laughed then. He pulled out his own sheet of parchment and handed it to her.

Audrey read it, and her eyes widened again. "Are you _kidding_ me?" she demanded. She looked up at him, smirked, and without hesitation threw her arms around his neck, pressing her lips firmly against his.

It was a very chaste kiss, and after a moment Audrey pulled away.

"I still won, though," she said airily. With that, she turned to go.

Sirius burst out laughing again and grabbed her arm. "Audrey!"

She raised one eyebrow. "What?"

He leaned forward and kissed her on the lips again. This time, it was a bit less chaste; he brought one hand down to her waist and pulled her more securely toward him. He ran his tongue out to touch her lips and Audrey, perhaps by instinct more than consciously, opened her mouth.

It went on for a few more moments before they both pulled away and stared at one another, surprised.

"We are so _bad_," Audrey breathed.

Sirius quirked one corner of his mouth into a grin. "Not at kissing, though."

She nodded, wide-eyed. "This is true."

On that ambiguous note, she turned, spoke the Slytherin password, and opened the door that appeared to her common room.

Sirius stared at the stone wall that replaced the door after she had closed it. The torch light flickered across the hall, painting shadows on the stones.

He wasn't sure what he had just done, but for some reason, his head felt remarkably clear.

Without further ado, he turned on his heel to walk back up toward the Gryffindor common room, his head spinning with curiosity of what would happen tomorrow.

For some odd reason, he could hardly wait to find out.

---

Reviews!

Thanks to **MaraudingChick**, **beckers123**, **Nicoley117-LadyBlueMartini**, **Freja Lercke-Falkenborg**, **Ginny-and-Draco-fan**, **Paddie'sGirl**, **Potpoury** and **swee T**!

A special thanks to **PuckyChops**, because when you left that last review it motivated me to go write this chapter!

**A/N:** The next chapter will be up eventually… probably sooner than this last one, since school is nearly out! Its title will be "Sordid Scandal." And it will be sordid. And scandalous.

And I'm truly sorry this took so long, but I can't write good fanfiction unless I'm in the right mood…

Love,

Simone


	13. Sordid Scandal

**1Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **M!

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

**A/N: **It's been a while, hasn't it? But see, I never stop!

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

_Sordid Scandal_

Sirius awoke uncharacteristically early on Sunday morning. James had scheduled Quidditch practice from 10:00 A.M. to noon, explaining that Audrey had already booked the pitch for Slytherin in the late afternoon, but other than that, there was nothing planned for the day.

Thinking of Audrey made Sirius muse over the events of the previous night. He was rather amused that Audrey had so easily consented to kiss him. As he stretched and contemplated taking a quick shower, he realized he knew exactly what he wanted to do this morning: flirtatiously torment Audrey Granada.

He wanted to act like last night had been a glitch, like he really had no interest. He wasn't sure why; Audrey would undoubtedly see right through him. But regardless of the logic, Sirius knew that he had to see Audrey, and he had to see her soon.

So, after a cold shower, and with his roommates still only stirring awake, Sirius strolled out of his dormitory and into the common room.

As he reached the portrait hole, he heard a voice behind him call cheerfully, "Hey!"

Turning, he saw Savannah Baron, also up early, her hair freshly blown dry and clipped back.

_Well, super_, he thought sarcastically. He still wasn't sure why, but he felt thoroughly unenthused at the prospect of Savannah Baron – of talking to her, of eating breakfast with her, even of having sex with her.

"Good morning," he replied casually. He allowed her to kiss him briefly in greeting, but then turned and pushed open the portrait onto the seventh floor corridor. He and Savannah walked in relative silence down toward the Great Hall. Sirius realized that it was not just him; Savannah was probably still a bit angry with him, despite having consented to forgiving him the night before.

"Why didn't you come up to see me last night when you got back from the kitchens?" she asked presently.

He frowned, searching for a plausible answer. "I was tired," he ventured.

She barked out a skeptical laugh. "Even with that long nap?"

Sirius refused to give a shit. "Yep." He paused for a moment and then added, "And it's done me good; look how early I've gotten up!"

Savannah barely chuckled.

They had reached the Great Hall. Very few people were there; it was still not even eight o'clock. They sat down next to each other but still said little. Savannah perused the morning paper and drank a glass of orange juice while Sirius shoved around his fried potatoes.

Things livened up a bit at Quidditch practice, where the endorphins put everyone into a better mood. After a rousing two hours of flying, Sirius found Savannah beckoning to him in the locker room as the rest of the team finish showering and dressing and headed up to the castle for lunch. When he came over, she smiled prettily at him, grasped his hands and pulled him back through the door of the equipment room. Sirius grinned, too, any sincere feelings he could have experienced instantly eclipsed by his hormones. In the dim light, surrounded by spare balls and bats, he pushed Savannah against the wall and kissed her hungrily.

When they both stopped for breath, now several layers of clothing lighter, Sirius grinned at her. "I've never had sex in here before," he remarked. This, at least, was true; he'd had sex in several other parts of the locker rooms, but never this particular closet.

Savannah grinned back at him and trailed a hand down his stomach and then slipped it through the fly of his boxers. "Me neither."

When they emerged from the locker room ten minutes later, looking quite disheveled, Sirius took her hand instinctively. They strolled up toward the Great Hall happily, joking and laughing.

When the entered the foyer, however, Sirius caught a glimpse of Audrey, her back to them, moving away down the corridor; evidently she had just finished lunch.

Forgetting Savannah entirely, Sirius told her he had to go up to his dormitory. "I'll meet you at lunch in a bit," he said vaguely, kissing her on the cheek, quirking one corner of his mouth into a grin, and heading on his way up the hall.

"Wha – okay," Savannah called after him. She watched him for a moment or two and then turned toward the marble staircase that led down to the house tables.

Sirius caught up with Audrey easily. He sidled up alongside her and said, "Why, hello…"

Audrey turned to look at him and smiled. "Hey. Having a nice day?"

He grinned. "It just got a lot better."

She raised one eyebrow. "What on earth are you trying to play at?"

Sirius laughed. "Nothing."

She smiled at him. "Stop flirting with me."

He shrugged. "Why should I?"

She shook her head. "Because I don't like you like that." But she could not contain a slight grin.

Sirius pretended to look highly affronted. "WHAT?! Why on earth not?"

Now, she shrugged. "You wouldn't be good for me. Besides, I'm trying to return to my lost innocence."

He laughed a third time. "What on earth are you talking about?"

She smiled at him. "When I first started here, I was the sweetest little kid you could imagine. I had two older brothers, one two years older and one three. I used to hang around with them all the time; they always included me in everything. I'd go to their parties, hang out with their friends…"

Sirius grinned at her; Audrey was usually more into talking about his troubled past than talking about her own charming one.

"And then what happened?" he asked cheerfully. "When did you turn into a total pimp?"

She laughed easily, now. "When Damien graduated – he's the older one, see – it really got the ball rolling. I mean before, he'd always let me come and kick it with his friends, but Sebastian was the one who didn't give a shit what I did... Damien was protective, as any older brother should be, but Sebastian encouraged me to do whatever I wanted and didn't mind if his friends fell all over me."

Sirius looked at her, exaggeratedly solemn. "And did you appreciate this?"

Audrey laughed again. "Sure I appreciated it. Though in retrospect I think I'd be a _lot_ less promiscuous if he'd kept standards about him."

"Who was the first person you fucked?" Sirius asked bluntly. He knew it sounded harsh, but he meant it in the most innocently curious possible way.

"This kid Henry Baddock, friend of Sebastian's, used to come visit us in the summers…" she trailed off, suddenly looking somewhat upset.

"What's up?" Sirius inquired.

She frowned a bit. "He's just a bit of a disappointment, is all… very against Muggle borns and all of that. The last time I talked to him he told me all about the Death Eaters and how super they are…"

Sirius winced. "Don't start."

Audrey smiled kindly. "I didn't take too well to it; I'm not a huge fan of subservience, and I've seen what the _toujours pur_ upbringing can do to a kid…"

Sirius nodded frankly. "Fucks him up, to be sure."

-

As the next week passed, Sirius felt himself becoming more and more perplexed by what he was hoping to achieve – in life, in friends, in _everything_. He knew Savannah was not entirely happy with him; he had spent very little time with her all week – apart from having sex with her several times a day. But he wouldn't have been so superficial if Savannah hadn't almost encouraged it; indeed, she seemed to have turned into nothing short of a nymphomaniac recently, pulling him off with her during study breaks, after Quidditch practices, and, if he was in his room at the appropriate time, just before bed.

On Friday afternoon, Sirius left charms with James, planning to sneak into Hogsmeade to procure liquor for that night, when Savannah came up beside him (he hadn't talked to her yet that day) and placing her hand gently on his arm murmured, "Come here a moment."

She pulled at his arm slightly as he glanced over at James, who raised his eyebrows. Sirius turned back to Savannah. "Can we meet up later? I told James I'd sneak down to the village with him to get some drinks for later."

Savannah opened her mouth for a moment, but then closed it. Her eyes narrowed imperceptibly. "Fine."

With that, she turned on her heel and headed off down the corridor.

As he made his way down a nearby staircase with James, Sirius decided to put the moment out of his mind. James, however, had other ideas.

"What was that about?" he asked innocently.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "You know damn well."

James grinned at once. "I'm sorry, but didn't you two go shag during lunch break?"

Sirius shrugged, and smiled a bit despite himself. "Might've."

"Why's she so desperate for it?" James demanded pleasantly. "I always coined you as horrible in bed."

Sirius laughed again. "Who knows, mate. But I'm not complaining."

No, he wasn't complaining, but he was also curious as to why Savannah had abandoned all pretenses of romanticism and was now content to simply fuck him a ever turn. Indeed, during lunch break she had actually pulled him into a deserted classroom, locked the door and moaned into his neck something akin to, "Oh god, Sirius, I need it _now_."

Being the gentleman that he was, he had consented at once.

But still…

He had spent much of his free time in the week with either his male friends or Audrey Granada, who laughed about Savannah's sex drive and informed him – flirtatiously or otherwise, he couldn't decide – that she hadn't been laid in nearly two months.

When he and James returned from Hogsmeade an hour later, it was nearly time to prepare for dinner; Sirius entered the common room to find Lily reading a book. Encouraged by one nod of James's, Sirius approached her.

"Hey Lily, have you seen Annie?"

Lily looked up. "Yeah, she's up in our dormitory. Want me to go get her?"

Sirius nodded. "That would be fabulous."

When Savannah arrived downstairs a few minutes later, Sirius grinned at her. "Want to go for a walk before dinner?" he suggested.

Savannah nodded, and smiled. James went to sit beside Lily while Sirius ushered Savannah out of the portrait hole and into the corridor beyond.

They walked up several floors, but seemed to have run out of things to talk about. It would have almost been awkward – except Sirius had always felt indifferent to awkwardness. This was about sex; nothing more. When the reached a deserted classroom he did the honors, holding the door for her and locking it behind them, and then he smirked flirtatiously, conjured several cushions for the ground, and pushed Savannah playfully onto them.

As he undid her jeans and pulled them off, he couldn't help but grin. "Wow, the last time we did this was a whole _five hours _ago."

Savannah giggled. "Whatever. It's fun."

Sirius nodded. "Definitely."

They had nearly stopped bothering with foreplay by this point in the week; pants off, and they were good to go. Sirius knew it was wrong on paper, but Savannah seemed to enjoy it so much…

There was no way he would let himself feel guilty for no longer caring about her.

-

The next weekend was the first Quidditch match of the season: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Audrey teased Sirius about her team's readiness and his brother's skill as a Seeker, but Sirius laughed her off and said he couldn't wait to see her in tears after the match.

They were sitting in the library at the time, sharing a table and half-heartedly reading their Arithmancy books. The match was scheduled for the next morning. Audrey was wearing her Slytherin captain's badge on her dark green sweater and a pair of black horn-rimmed reading glasses. Her dark hair was held back on each side with narrow brown bobby pins. She looked deceptively studious.

"Maybe you can come to our celebration party after the match," Sirius suggested, grinning at her.

Audrey smirked at him. "You mean solidarity-of-loss party, right?" she countered at once. "And no, I think I'd rather celebrate than mope around and cry."

Sirius grinned more broadly. "Just because you're wearing cute glasses doesn't mean you can vanish into a fantasy world," he remarked sagely.

Audrey burst out a laugh. "That doesn't even make sense!"

He shrugged. "Does anything?"

Audrey rolled her eyes.

At that moment, James rounded the corner and said, sharply, "Sirius!"

Sirius turned around. "Oh, hey," he said easily. "I'm just talking shit to the other team, you know?"

James looked surprisingly angry. "I hope you didn't tell her anything about our offensive strategy," he said through grated teeth.

"Of course not, Potter," Audrey put in. "Though, it's not like it'd be any use; our defense would flatten your offense any day."

James glowered at her. "You won't be so cocky when you lose," he remarked.

Audrey raised one eyebrow. "Just because you're wearing cute glasses doesn't mean you can vanish into a fantasy world," she replied lightly.

Despite himself, Sirius began to laugh. James looked furious.

"That doesn't even make sense, Granada," he sad icily.

Sirius struggled to stop laughing. "No… it's just… Prongs, don't… don't worry about it…"

James now glared at Sirius. "Padfoot, you had better shape the hell up before tomorrow morning!"

Sirius stopped laughing abruptly and looked up at him. "What's with you?"

James paused for a moment and then said, "Sorry to interrupt this little love fest, but come with me a moment."

Sirius glanced briefly at Audrey, shrugged, and followed James around the corner and through the shelves until they were well enough away.

"What?" he demanded point blank.

James narrowed his eyes. "Sirius, it's one thing for you to be friends with Granada, but it's another thing for you to consort with her _the evening before an important match_! It's obvious what she wants, isn't it?" When Sirius didn't say anything James continued, "She wants to beat us at Quidditch, and she'll do everything in her power to make you bend to her will and let her do it!"

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "Somehow I doubt that," he said.

"Why?" James retorted. "You know you can never trust a Slytherin!"

Sirius shrugged one shoulder. Without really thinking about it, he replied, "Sometimes you have to."

James reeled back exaggeratedly. "_What_? What on _earth_ are you talking about?" He seemed to calm down for a moment, and then continued, more rationally, "Listen, mate, it's the night before a match. Why can't you just be like everyone else on the team and treat the Slytherins like utter shit?" He paused for emphasis. "Doesn't it seem inappropriate for you to spend the whole evening flirting with their _captain_?"

Sirius was about to smile, but caught himself. "No, of course, you're right," he replied after a ways.

James nodded. "Good. Now come on, let's get back up to the common room… Oh, and Annie was looking for you earlier; you might want to go find her…"

Sirius snorted. "I wonder why."

James shrugged. "It's better than Lily, mate. She still won't consent to date me. Once a week or so we'll have some amazing moment where we totally connect and we'll end up snogging and all of that, but the next morning, it's like nothing's happened. She tells me she's still not ready. Can you believe that?"

Sirius quirked one corner of his mouth into a sympathetic smile. "She's probably just trying to drive you crazy… make it all the better when she finally gives in…"

-

The day of the match was perfect; the sky was blue and the leaves of the trees in the Forbidden Forest were golden. Sirius awoke and ate breakfast with the rest of the team, then set out to the pitch ahead of the school.

The match started out stressful but ended remarkably well: the Slytherin Chasers seemed to have improved since the previous year, and the score remained remarkably close for nearly an hour. Sirius swung his bat left and right, taking marked pleasure in hitting bludgers at Regulus and grinning at her when he sent them toward Audrey.

Finally, with the score marked at 100 to 80, Slytherin, Regulus and Ambrose Adams, the Gryffindor Seeker, went into spectacular dives. As Regulus pulled ahead, Sirius caught site of a bludger spiraling toward him. Taking careful aim, he whacked it straight at Regulus.

As Regulus did a barrel role to avoid the oncoming bludger, Ambrose pulled ahead and swiped at the Snitch.

As he rose moments later, the tiny ball clasped tightly in his left hand, the Gryffindor fans let out a roar of delight. Sirius flew to the center of the pitch with the rest of the team, all of them cheering and slapping Ambrose on the back in delight. Savannah grinned at Sirius, but he hardly noticed; beyond her, he had caught sight of Audrey, looking around dejectedly at her team as they landed with bowed heads on the trampled grass.

Though she was many yards away, Sirius managed to catch Audrey's eye. She gave a one-shouldered shrug of defeat and started up the lawn with the others.

Sirius glanced around at his team, now embracing each other in congratulations, and then back toward the Slytherins. He couldn't explain why, but, even though he knew that there would be a fantastic party in the common room in mere moments, but he wanted to see Audrey.

As the Gryffindor team made its way up the lawn ten minutes later, Sirius caught site of Audrey as she exited the locker rooms, broomstick over her shoulder, hair pulled back in a simple French braid. She paused at the locker room entrance to let the Gryffindors all pass.

With shouts of joy still emanating around him, Sirius found it quite easy to step away and fall back. He approached Audrey.

"Hey," he said brightly.

She raised one eyebrow at him. "Hey." She paused for a moment and then added, "Er… good game. Way to hit that last bludger and crush all of my hopes and dreams…"

Then she smiled at him to show that she was kidding, sort of.

Sirius grinned at her; he couldn't help it.

"Where's the rest of your team?" he asked.

"Still changing," she said. "But they'll be up soon enough."

He nodded. "Where are you heading now?"

She raised both eyebrows at him this time. "Where do you think? My common room, of course."

He nodded again. "Can I come?"

She looked taken aback. "Are you joking? Why don't you go celebrate with your team?"

He shrugged idly. "I'd rather consolidate with you."

She barked out a laugh. "'Consolidate?'"

He smiled at her. "Sounds suggestive, doesn't it?"

Audrey nodded, smiling happily. Then she switched her air and considered him haughtily.

"I suppose you could come over briefly… though, I can't tell too well outside, but you probably smell _awful_… and I'm sure you'll want to go to your own party soon…"

"I don't want to see your team, of course," Sirius added, just to clarify. "I still hate them."

Audrey smiled despite herself. "Of course. Well, I suppose if you really _must_ come…"

So together, ahead of the Slytherin team but behind the Gryffindors, they made their way through the castle and down several staircases until they reached the dungeons. As they rounded one of the last bends toward the entrance to the Slytherin common room, Sirius reached over and took Audrey's hand. She looked up at him, surprise mingled with bemusement etched on her face.

They entered the Slytherin common room, which was nearly empty; with no party to attend, most of the Slytherins seemed to have found better ways to occupy their time.

The few that sat around the fire glanced toward Sirius as he entered the portrait hole, his Gryffindor Quidditch robes standing out starkly in the greenish light.

Audrey surveyed the watchers indifferently and tightened her hold on Sirius's hand. He grinned and ignored the Slytherins, too, concentrating only on Audrey, the only person he cared about.

They found their way down a set of stairs to Audrey's dormitory – she told him to skip every third step, in order to avoid the anti-boy charms that would block him from entering – and made their way inside.

By this point, Audrey was all Sirius could see. As soon as the door closed, he stepped up to her, grabbed her playfully about the waist, and kissed her soundly.

All thoughts of Quidditch, of Gryffindor, of Savannah, of anything else in the world vanished as he kissed Audrey more and more passionately. She pulled him back toward what must have been her bed and he pushed her down onto it, kissing her all the while. He couldn't stop; it was addictive. Weeks of Savannah Baron had left him deprived, and he needed Audrey right then and there.

-

Some time later, Sirius lay back to gaze at the canopy as Audrey entwined one of her legs between his and rested her head on his chest.

"Can't say I've ever done anything like this in a Slytherin dormitory before," he observed lightly.

Audrey laughed gently. "There's a first time for everything."

He nodded. "Mmm…" He glanced around the room for the first time, taking in the dark green velvet draperies, the ornate silver candleholders, the dark stained woodwork. The Slytherin dormitories were beautiful, to be sure – but it was the formal beauty he had grown up with, full of the old engravings that had adorned many of the manors in which he had spent his youth. He couldn't help but want to hate it for its antiquity; to him, antiquity of design was intrinsically linked with antiquity of thought: purism, elitism, and rigid social hierarchy.

"This place is so familiar," he murmured. "I've never been here, and yet it's familiar." He smiled. "I feel like I should hate it, but under the present circumstances I can't quite pull it off."

Audrey smiled, too. "They say that the Slytherin dormitories are the oldest, being in the dungeons, and all… They were built first, furnished first. The woodwork is centuries old."

Sirius laughed hollowly. "Frankly, I don't give a rat's arse."

Audrey grinned, and tilted her head up to kiss him gently on the lips. "Don't get defensive; I'm just relaying the information. When I was a first-year and came up to the dormitories after the feast, the Prefects lectured us on all of the architectural history."

Sirius sighed slightly, though he wasn't sure why. "I remember being sorted," he said slowly. "It was probably one of the worst moments of my life." He smiled, then. "It got a lot better, though. A _lot_ better."

Audrey gave him one of the most affectionate glances he had ever received, and buried her face in his chest. "I adore you for that," she murmured, her voice muffled by the fabric of his T-shirt. She looked up into his face again, her chin resting on his chest. Her dark hair fell slightly into her dark eyes, and he lifted a hand to brush it away. He found himself unable to break her gaze. In the dim light, Audrey's eyes were nearly black, her dark lashes curling upward appealing.

He was experiencing a deja vu. It took him a moment to place it, but then he inhaled and exhaled slowly, still not breaking Audrey's gaze as she rose and fell slightly on his chest. Then he smiled despite himself, even though the memory was painful.

"We've done this before," he said.

She thought for a brief moment and then nodded slowly. "At the Twelfth Promenade?"

He nodded, too. "Yeah. Only it was–" he winced almost unconsciously "–because you were so hurt. By me. And that… that _game_, or whatever the hell we were calling it."

She nodded again. "Yeah…" She sighed deeply, and narrowed her eyes slightly. "Your eyes are so silver. They were then, too. It's that same sort of lighting – they catch the flare off the candles, so they're more than just gray."

He grinned at her, then. "God forbid they should be _just gray_…"

She grinned back, and he was delighted because he felt that, with that grin, she forgave him completely for all he had done and all he regretted.

He ran his hands around her waist to pull her closer to him, until she was close enough for him to kiss her. Then he did, and he didn't stop until she pulled back, gasping,

"At least let me breath, Sirius!"

Sirius grinned and lay back, his arms crossed behind his head, to look at her. Audrey straddled him and smiled, pulling her dark hair back in a ponytail.

He wanted to tell her about the Sorting. He wasn't sure why at first, but it occurred to him that he had never told anybody about his experience of it before; the Marauders did not need to know how naïve and corrupted he had continued to be at that moment, and his family would not have listened.

But Audrey would understand.

"The hat took ages to sort me," Sirius said, moving one arm from behind his head to take her hand. "I kept demanding that it put me in Slytherin, and it kept almost doing it. I was such a cocky git – on the train I met James and started to get a bit mixed up, but I'd spent the entire ride to King's Cross with Bella and the rest, and they all kept telling me what a fabulous night it was going to be, and everything down to details about how the Slytherin dormitories were the best, the oldest, the most beautiful architecturally…"

Audrey quirked her lips into a smile and ran one finger gently down his chest.

"I'll bet you were excited," she observed kindly. "All of those beautiful, cool older cousins of yours? You probably couldn't wait."

He nodded. "Yeah… and then we got to the hall, and I was standing there in line and over at the Slytherin table Bella kept giving me a reassuring smile…" He suddenly groaned. "You have no idea how much I always worshiped my cousins. Before I had other friends, see… it was all of the family. And we were all such kids… the older ones just seemed so much _cooler_, you know?"

Audrey nodded. "I remember at parties, I was always a bit intimidated by them. Well – Bella, at least. She's always been so… well, you know: loud and beautiful and just… intense."

Sirius nodded again. "I know it." Suddenly he couldn't help but groan. All this talk of family – the one thing he never talked about. The one subject he had avoided for neigh-on six years. And here he was, wearing boxers and a T-shirt in a Slytherin girls' dormitory, reminiscing about his cousins.

Audrey smiled at him kindly. "Sirius, you don't need to talk about it if you don't want to… though, really, I can't help but think that you _do_ want to…"

He gave her a grim look. "And why is that, Audrey?" he demanded, quite frankly curious.

She frowned. "Because you need to explain yourself. You need to justify to me – and yourself, as well – why you're happy with how everything has panned out."

He thought for a moment, and then grinned broadly at her. "Exactly!" He then leaned back into the pillows and reconsidered. "I'm happy, but I mean… I get bored, you know? When I'm not with you, or with, say, James, I'm just bored: school's a breeze, life's a breeze, and I've blocked out anything that could possibly cause me emotional unrest. All I have left to feel is… boredom."

Audrey nodded but frowned, looking at him closely. "That's so conceited of you. You're not too good for it, you know."

He shrugged. "I know I'm not too good for it, I just… I don't know, sometimes everyone else just seems so naïve… almost like I was before I came here. They understand things on this whole other level, and it's a much lower level, too. I mean… I don't think I could possibly care less about school – the academics, the social hierarchy, any of it. It's all just so petty and unimportant."

Audrey nodded again and looked away from him at the dark green hangings. "Of course it is," she said quietly. "Anyone thinking objectively can tell that." She then turned back to meet his gaze. "But you also understand that you have the luxury of not caring, don't you, Sirius? It's true you've had more… emotional growth than most of the people here, but it's also true that you always would have been smart enough to not worry about class and good-looking and charming enough to not worry about your social life."

Sirius shrugged again. "Probably. But it all amounts to the same thing, doesn't it? I only care about things that will last. Namely, I care about my friends because they'll always be there for me, long after school is good and done."

Audrey nodded a third time. "Naturally. So what do you want, Sirius?"

He gazed up at her, feeling the words form as he considered the answer to her question. "I want to get out of here and do something amazing. I want to do the complete opposite of everything my parents did. I want to prove to myself that I'm not like them."

As he said the words he knew they were completely true. Funny how everything he did ultimately amounted to that: his drive to escape his past.

And yet here he was, lying in a Slytherin girls' dormitory and technically cheating on his girlfriend because he still didn't have enough empathy to give a shit.

Audrey bit her lip for a moment. Sirius was sure she was thinking the same thing as he was.

"I don't know why, but I just can't quite muster up the compassion to care about people who don't understand me," Sirius said. "I suppose it's because I'm only loyal when I know people will be always be loyal back, you know?"

"You trust hardly anyone," Audrey agreed, nodding.

Sirius nodded too. She looked so beautiful, still straddling him, one strap of her lacy green tank top sliding off of her right shoulder. Then he realized that he trusted Audrey Granada with all his heart, and, for the first time, the thought scared him.

"Audrey…" he gasped huskily, sitting up suddenly to grasp her around the waist and kiss her roughly, passionately. This was the only way he could assuage that sudden fear that came with realizing he had involuntarily left himself vulnerable to another person. At that moment, he realized that he needed Audrey more than she needed him, and the idea of suddenly not being in control made him strive to regain whatever power he might have had – not in a malicious way, but simply in a self-comforting way.

He ran a hand up under her shirt (she was wearing no bra) and spun his fingers here and there until she sighed slightly and kissed him more passionately still, grinding her hips down into his lap. Sirius pushed her down on the bed and trailed his fingers around the edge of her lacy underwear, more and more slowly until Audrey moaned, "Stop teasing me!"

He then pulled her panties completely off and leaned forward to kiss her just below her navel. He smiled up at her. Audrey was breathing heavily and looked enormously disheveled. Her dark eyes shined in the dim light more than ever.

Sirius buried his face between her legs and began doing things with his tongue, making Audrey sigh and grip at the bedcovers. He waited until she could hardly stand it and then pulled away, kissing her up along her stomach and smiling at her coquettishly as she cried, "Sirius, you can't just stop!"

She groped for the fly of his boxers, inclining her hips to rub herself against him. Sirius gasped slightly, reneging on his earlier plan to hold out, and allowed Audrey to get his pants half off. She wrapped her legs around him just below the waist and gazed into his eyes, breathing hard. "Please, Sirius…"

She trailed off and closed her eyes as he acquiesced, thrusting into her faster and faster but not letting himself go entirely until Audrey cried out in her final pleasure.

So that was really all he could do, he thought resignedly as he lay there with her after: use sex to reassure himself that Audrey would always be loyal to him, and allow himself to get lost in her.

He wasn't sure if he loved her, exactly. His relationship with her was so different from that he had had with any other girl. He felt that he could have fallen in love with her if he could only allow himself the chance, but as it was, he could not quite bring himself to throw caution to the winds, give himself up and enter that state of mind.

Not yet, anyway.

-

At dinnertime, when he and Audrey finally left her dormitory to find something to eat upstairs, he found that news had spread. Savannah was heartbroken, James was furious with him, and the whole school seemed unable to contain itself: Sirius Black had skipped his own house's celebration to fuck an opposing Quidditch captain in an enemy dormitory.

Ohhh, the scandal.

"How do they even know we did anything?" Audrey muttered to him as they entered the Great Hall to find a majority of the eyes on them.

"Clearly your little Slytherin friends jumped to conclusions," Sirius replied. "I mean, all we did was _talk_…"

Audrey couldn't help but grin. "It's going to be an interesting couple of days," she remarked, patting him on the shoulder before heading off toward the Slytherin table.

Sirius smiled briefly, and then glanced over at the Gryffindor table, where Savannah was avoiding looking at him and James was openly glaring at him.

Audrey was right: it would definitely be an interesting couple of days.

--

Reviews!

Thanks to **Elin**, **MaraudingChick**, **dixio**, **Potpoury**, **Camelia Sinensis**, **Nicoley117-LadyBlueMartini**, **EverybodysWearingBlueJeans** and **Freja Lercke-Falkeborg** for reviewing the last chapter! Also thanks to **Ending of the World**!

**Kelly** – indeed, I did create Claire with that in mind :)

Love you all!

-Simone


	14. Regrets and Indecision

**Summary:** A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated: **M, per usual

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter One.

**A/N:** I told you I'd update eventually :) Read back on the latest from Chapter Thirteen, if you want a refresher on what was happening...

* * *

Chapter Fourteen

_Regrets and Indecision _

Savannah Baron sat on the floor of her bedroom, fuming. She was so angry, it was causing her to feel lightheaded. Every particle of her being wanted to rip Audrey Granada's hair out.

"I can't fucking _believe_ that girl," she said, quite loudly and clearly. "She is _such_ a _slut_. She has absolutely no shame, she'll shag anything that moves, and she's not even _that_ good looking!"

Lily, who was sitting on her bed watching Savannah worriedly, started. "Honestly, Annie, I think it's way more Sirius's fault than Audrey Granada's. I mean… he's the one who was in a relationship with you…"

Savannah shook her head, thoroughly disgusted. "I just wish… I wish his friends would turn on him. And I wish he'd realize that Audrey Granada is the dirtiest girl _at_ this fucking school."

Lily shrugged. "That's a lot to wish, Annie," she said gently.

Isolde O'Connor looked up from her desk and brushed several long strands of hair out of her face. "He's just immature, Annie. And he'll grow up eventually, but in the meantime, fuck him." She turned back to the essay she had been working on, picked up her quill, and added, "But not literally."

"Yeah, but when did you have a thing with him, fifth year?" Savannah demanded. "He was _fifteen_ then! A fucking _child_! Did you even have sex?"

Isolde shrugged. "I don't remember if we had sex. All I know is you can do much better."

(She was lying; they had had sex, and it had been awkward.)

Savannah glowered. "I should have broken things off with him weeks ago. I just liked shagging him too much to call it quits…"

She then lost her composure completely, and burst into tears.

-

Sirius was finding life in his dormitory to be rather unpleasant at the moment.

"She's in_ Slytherin_, Sirius!" James bellowed. "And not _only_ that, she's _captain_ of their Quidditch team! I mean, what the hell are you trying to play at?! There's this rule, you know, against sleeping with the enemy… _treason_, it's called!"

Sirius exhaled loudly and leaned his chin on one palm. "I don't know what to tell you, mate," he said matter-of-factly. "I happen to like her."

James almost laughed. "Sirius! There are _so many_ other girls, and many of them are _perfectly_ likable, and at _least _as attractive as Audrey Granada! I mean–" he paused for a moment, struggling for words "–you could have _anyone_. Anyone, Sirius! How can you do something like this? It's an absolute disgrace to the team, not to mention Gryffindor house and yourself in general!"

Sirius was now beginning to feel insulted. "Don't make me choose between the two, Prongs. It's only a big deal if you make it one."

James did laugh this time. "'Only a big deal if I make it one?' Sirius, we're talking about _Audrey_ _Granada_ here. She's filthy, she's soulless, she's a horrible person. She's using you because she's in Slytherin – she wants to beat us at Quidditch, she wants to… to… take you away from the people who care–"

"–SHUT UP!" Sirius had had enough. "You don't understand at all, do you? I'm not doing this just because I can, or because I'm sick of Annie, or because I want to keep things interesting, or because I want to sabotage the team – I'm doing it because I'm absolutely crazy over the girl!"

James surveyed him skeptically. Then he said, sounding almost pleading, "_Why_, Sirius? Why? Has it occurred to you that she's only making you like her to achieve her own ends? Or that you're only attracted to her because it's so taboo? I mean, _think_, Sirius!"

Sirius stood up, ready to leave. "I have been thinking!" he shouted. "I've been thinking for the past three months more than I've ever thought in my life before, and apparently all it's come down to is the fact that Audrey Granada is the one person in this bloody school who actually cares about me!"

"She _doesn't_ care about you, though!"

Sirius had had enough. He walked out and slammed the door, and James did not pursue him.

Despite himself, he found himself feeling, for one of the few times in his life, immensely insecure. Rationally he knew that Audrey cared for him plenty, but right now he had a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach, a worry that, just maybe, it was all a sham.

But it had to be real! Never in his life before had he felt as strongly for another person as in that brief moment in Audrey's dormitory.

He needed to talk to her, he needed her to reassure him. But at the same time, he wanted an outside opinion. He wanted someone to tell him that, in fact, Audrey needed him just as much as he needed her.

He rubbed his eyes and remembered asking her, "What the hell are you getting out of this?" He frowned. Though he told himself that she had provided a satisfactory answer at the time, he could no longer remember what it was.

_Merlin, I'm driving myself crazy,_ he thought, trying to determine a proper course of action. It was not so much the fact that everyone in Gryffindor House probably hated him right now; half the hatred was just envy, he knew, and James would forgive him in time. The issue was the fact that he didn't know where to take his relationship with Audrey. Frankly, all he wanted to do was spend every minute of every day with her, but he worried that Audrey might not be too keen on this.

He was so used to it being the other way around! Girls threw themselves at him and pined after him and he ignored them if he so chose. But now he was lusting after the companionship of a single girl, and what did he have to offer her? Some amusement? A sense of accomplishment? Did Audrey even truly like him for who he was, or was it all just the culmination of a fanciful girl's ambition to reform an emotionally troubled bad-boy?

He thought back to all the times he had interacted with Audrey before this seventh and final year of Hogwarts. There were the Quidditch matches, the snatches of gossip, the lingering (albeit antagonistic) glances… thinking back, he felt sure that he had always thought she was pretty, had always felt the tug of some latent, forbidden attraction to her. Audrey Granada was the kind of girl his parents would have wanted him to marry - though then again, her family wasn't _that_ important. The de Granadas were a reasonably ancient and respected family on the Iberian Peninsula, but in the British Isles, they were relatively unheard of. Though Audrey's mother must have been from a British family… some inkling of Sirius's past, a trace of something someone had said at some austere ball long ago, told him she was probably a Yaxley.

He squeezed his eyes shut impulsively, terrified by this train of thought into forbidden waters. What did it matter what Audrey's family lineage was? Wasn't family lineage the one thing he was trying to prove irrelevant?

Sirius had wandered through several corridors by this point, and he had made absolutely no progress on deciding what to do. He felt almost nauseous at his paralysis. After all, never before had he had the slightest hesitation in deciding what to do with a girl. There was one thing he kept coming back to, however: he knew that relationships only endured if both parties were equal. All his other relationships ended because, in every case, he held more sway than the girl.

And then there was that one relationship-that-might-have-been… if he had dated Claire Delacour, it could have conceivably endured because he would have been dependent on her attention and approval just as heavily as she was dependent on his. Compromises would have been made, arguments would have turned into in-depth discussions, and their intimacy would have perpetuated itself and increased exponentially with every hurdle they cleared. But of course, with every other girl he dated, there was no reason to compromise. Things worked out if and only if he and the girl had the exact same prerogative. And this was impossible, because eventually someone would want something the other did not want, and, because Sirius always held more sway, there was never compromise, intimacy was not attained, and the "relationship" – if you could call it that – inevitably fell apart.

It had happened with Tara, it had happened with Savannah, and it had happened with every other girl Sirius had had a relationship, fling, or fuck-buddy arrangement with.

The trouble was not so much that Sirius _minded_ being in control; he was simply aware of the fact that it led nowhere. Audrey thus presented an interesting dilemma: Sirius was quite sure that he would not hold greater sway than she would – a change from every other relationship ever, except the hypothetical relationship-that-might-have-been with Claire – but Audrey would quite possibly hold excessive sway over him. In an argument, he knew, he would bend to her will. And there were sure to be numerous hurdles that would need clearing if they were ever to make a relationship work.

The trouble, then, was that the hurdles would be impassible – or, rather, impassible via compromise. One person's will would win out, and Sirius felt sure it would be Audrey's.

And he was not okay with this.

-

"I don't know why I did it," Sirius said tiredly, sitting down on James's bed.

James frowned, clearly struggling to keep his temper and puzzled by how abruptly Sirius's attitude had changed from when he left the room an hour earlier.

"Well…you seemed to have reasons an hour ago," he said.

Sirius shook his head, his expression impassive. "I was being an idiot… a bloody wanker… It'll never work between us, ever… I don't know what I was thinking… fucking self-destructive… I should've just let Annie keep banging me til she grew tired of it and then maybe by then we'd be out of this place and into the real world."

James was silent for a moment, clearly quite confused. "Er… Moony?" he called hesitantly. "Sirius is acting strangely…"

Sirius smiled hollowly. "Like I wasn't being strange before?"

James smiled too and shook his head, ready to forgive and forget, as always. "Nah mate, that was normal. Sometimes you're just completely controlled by your dick. It's alright, it happens to the best of us."

Sirius frowned. "I suppose…"

He wasn't sure how he felt at the moment. Somewhere in his walk through the now-silent halls of the castle, it had clicked in is head that he and Audrey could never work as a couple. After all, he liked her far too much, and she didn't like him enough. She knew his few weaknesses and he felt sure she had none. Committing himself to Audrey was a route doomed to failure.

The only word appropriate for how he felt at this moment was _emo_.

_Emo_… was he ever ashamed of himself!

"What's up?" Remus asked.

Sirius shook his head. "I'm so ashamed. I'm so fucking stupid. I'm _this close_ to being happy and it's impossible. It's almost like Claire but it's… it could be even _better_ than Claire, it could be _amazing_, it could be the way I'd want to spend every day of the rest of my life! …But it can't fucking working. Merlin, I'm so fucking stupid…"

Now, Remus and James both frowned, as did Peter, who had left his own bed to join them.

Remus hesitated, then implored, "Sirius, _what_ are you talking about?"

Sirius let out a long sigh, mentally slapping himself for giving into this emo-ness.

"I'm talking about Audrey Granada! I'm absolutely crazy about her and it will never work!" He turned to James. "You were absolutely right about what you were saying earlier, though not in the way you meant…"

James raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Sirius frowned. "You were talking about how she'd use me and all that. And it's not that she would _intentionally_ use me, or anything. But she'd always win. She'd come out on top. I like her too much and she has no weaknesses and we'd never be able to compromise on anything. I'd give up everything for her and she'd give up nothing for me. You see the problem?"

James, Remus and Peter all stared at him.

Then James scoffed. "Well then you're damn right you shouldn't be starting anything with her!"

Sirius sighed, feeling deflated. "I know. I don't know why I let myself. I just got carried away."

His friends all looked uncharacteristically concerned.

"Well… we forgive you for doing it, mate," James ventured. "I'm not sure about the rest of the House, but then, who cares about them…"

Sirius laughed hollowly, and announced, "I'm going to bed."

Once he had climbed into his four-poster, though, all he could think about was Audrey. He closed his eyes and saw her straddling his waist, her short bangs curling over her dark eyes, her tank top straps sliding off her shoulders. He thought of how good she smelled and the feel of her mouth on his.

But he refused to become like Tara or Savannah. He would not submit to another person. He would either dominate or – perhaps, some day in the far future – be another's equal.

He lay in bed fraught with distress for a few minutes, and then forsook all hope of sorting things out in this state and allowed himself to drift into an elaborate fantasy about Audrey until sleep claimed him.

-

She caught his eye at breakfast, of course. His friends had buoyed his spirits beforehand and he had managed to maintain his composure, carelessly ignoring the glance of blazing fury Savannah gave him in the common room, and the whispers that followed him down the corridors. He laughed and joked with his friends and knew that everyone secretly wished for this sort of notoriety.

But when he sat down at breakfast, he couldn't help but look over at the Slytherin table – and there was Audrey, equally indifferent to the scandal, chatting with her friends and laughing. She caught his eye almost at once, and winked.

He felt his heart flutter. It was Sunday, he could go see her after breakfast and… and what? Tell her what he had decided?

He had to; he wanted to. And then he wanted her to tell him it didn't have to be like that.

Audrey was clearly looking to talk, too. Sirius found her standing in the entrance hall waiting for him.

"Hey, pal," she said with a smile.

He looked her up and down. Her dark hair hung in a slight wave to her shoulders, her bangs were combed, and she wore jeans and a cashmere sweater, which wanted to peel off before making love to her… but he had to resist.

"You've fucked me up real bad, Audrey," he replied with a wry smile.

She raised one eyebrow. "What on earth do you mean?"

He smiled even more wryly. "You can't guess?"

She frowned. "You don't want to keep anything up …"

He nodded slowly. "I mean… not like that. I mean I _can't_ let myself get caught up with you. It would fall apart and I'd be…" - he looked her in the eyes to show he was dead serious - "…absolutely devastated."

She raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "I mean, if that's how you feel about it…"

He felt his heart sinking, but quirked his mouth into a grin, trying to regain his composure. "Audrey, I like you too much for this to work, and you know it."

She was silent for a moment, thinking. Then she said, "You're right. I should have thought of that before. I'm sorry."

He frowned. "Audrey, yesterday was absolutely _amazing_. You do realize that, don't you?"

She nodded. "Yes. But if you aren't ready to risk everything, then fine. We can go back to being just friends…"

He couldn't tell if she was angry or not, disappointed or unsurprised. All he could do was nod. "I mean… I just don't want to trap myself in a situation that will inevitably fall apart. I value you far too much as a person to risk it."

Audrey shrugged. "Alright." She turned toward the nearest corridor. "Anyway, I'll see you around."

She walked away,

Sirius wasn't sure what he had done wrong. All he knew was that he felt even more distressed than before.

-

In an attempt to boost himself out of his depression, Sirius impulsively decided to do something rather stupid, something he had not succumbed to since the previous March.

"Vana!" he called suavely at a girl standing amongst a gaggle of sixth-year Hufflepuffs a little ways away in the entrance hall, who all blushed. Vanity Linus smiled at him complacently and stepped away from the throng.

"What's up, Sirius? I haven't talked to you lately…"

He nodded. "I know; it's been far too long, hasn't it? But I've missed you_ dreadfully_; want to pop down to Hogsmeade for a drink?"

Vanity laughed. "You're rather forward, aren't you? And what's this I hear about you banging Audrey Granada? I'm not trying to get involved over my head…"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "I'll tell you all about it if you consent to go on an adventure with me..."

Vanity laughed again. "Can't say no to that, can I girls?" she asked, turning around to glance at her friends.

The girls all shook their heads. Some laughed while others murmured, "No, of course not!"

Vanity quirked an eyebrow at Sirius and followed him out of the corridor toward the foyer.

"So how have you been, Vana?" Sirius asked. "Boyfriends galore, as usual?"

Vanity giggled. "As usual. I'm between boys at the moment though…or I may as well be."

Sirius laughed. "You're quite forward, too."

Vanity winked at him. "Well, we both know what we want. No sense trying to hide it."

Sirius nodded. "I'm in a desperate bind. Audrey Granada's a bit too much for me. I've missed your gentle touch."

Vanity laughed. "I've gotten rougher."

Sirius barked out a laugh and tossed his hair out of his eyes before taking her hand in his.

Vanity burst out laughing. "Oh, hand-holding now, are we? You don't waste any time…"

They were not actually walking toward Hogsmeade, of course. They reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest and then walked a little way around the lake to a secluded area sheltered from the wind by trees and a large rock. Luckily, the day was crisp and dry.

Once behind the rock, Sirius turned to Vanity and kissed her messily on the lips. Her mouth was already open; Vanity Linus didn't waste any time either. She had her hands down his pants within five minutes, and then he was lifting her slight frame to hammer her against the rock, panting as she dug her fingernails into his back and clung to him with her bare thighs.

Vanity Linus was an utter whore. She was different in every way possible from people like Audrey, who had a bit too much sex but never wavered in self-confidence. Vanity was chronically unconfident, but hid her insecurities beneath a loud, exaggeratedly self-important exterior. She forever boned boys and sucked dicks to reassure herself of her self-worth.

Vanity was a half-blood, and her Hufflepuff friends were, surprisingly, mostly shy and chaste. But Sirius had consistently hooked up with Vana at least once per year ever since he had been fourteen, and she, thirteen.

Vanity was attractive, though a bit unusual looking. She was skinny and not especially buxom, but she wore a pushup bra to compensate. Her hair was thick, curly and unmanageable, but it was a beautiful shade of golden-brown. She always wore makeup, and always had a colorful clip pinning back her wild curls. Her face was quite nice, with a tiny nose and hazel eyes, but she smelled somewhat odd (though that may have been simply because Sirius was not actually attracted to her).

Sirius had had sex numerous times with Vanity Linus, but he found her crippling insecurity a bit too obvious. Every time he banged her, he had mixed feelings: he never exactly regretted it, since, after all, Vanity seemed to enjoy it, but spending time with a person so naïve, unconfident and generally unintelligent was not especially enjoyable for extended periods of time.

When they were done, they walked back to the castle, making dull, entirely insignificant conversation.

"So you did fuck Granada, then?" Vanity, ever the gossip-whore (as well as regular whore), asked.

Sirius smiled slightly. "I don't remember."

Vanity giggled. "Aw, Sirius, tell me!"

Sirius shook his head. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

He was already beginning to feel peculiar. Why did he ever think that fucking Vanity Linus was a good idea? Sure, it felt good, but it never felt amazing. Sex with Claire had been amazing. Sex with Audrey had been mind-blowingly amazing. But sex with Vanity was simply an act. There was no feeling or sentiment behind it.

As they entered the foyer and made their way down a corridor, they received glances from passing students. Vanity was grinning a bit to herself; she loved when new rumors of her sexual escapades spiraled through the student body. But Sirius felt himself growing more and more ashamed. Here he was, doing exactly what Audrey had warned him about: he was acting the same. He wasn't changing. First he had betrayed Savannah, and now he was betraying himself.

"I have to go," he informed Vanity suddenly.

She looked up at him, unfazed. "Okay. See you later, maybe?"

He gave a half of a nod. "Yeah. Sure. See you around."

Then he walked away and didn't look back.

-

Vivian Briar arrived back at her dormitory to find Savannah Baron sitting on her bed, attempting to read a book but clearly unable to concentrate.

"Hey," Savannah said dully.

"I didn't see you at dinner," Vivian ventured.

"I wasn't hungry."

"Lily's bringing you back something, just in case…"

Savannah said nothing.

Vivian hesitated for a moment, then said, "Now they're all saying he fucked Vanity Linus."

Savannah didn't look up for several seconds. When she did, her eyes were blazing. "Well, that's just _perfect_, isn't it?"

Vivian came over to sit next to her. "I mean…. At the very least, this absolutely means you shouldn't take it personally. Audrey Granada is one thing, but Vanity Linus is the lowest of the low."

Savannah started to cry. "That fucking bastard. I _hate_ him."

Vivian stroked her hair. "Oh, Annie…"

Lily entered the room carrying some bread, cheese and a slice of pound cake in a paper bag. She saw Savannah crying and sighed.

"You told her the latest?" she asked Vivian.

Vivian nodded. "Isolde pointed out at dinner that it's really for the better…"

Lily tilted her head from side to side, considering this. "I mean, I suppose, in terms of what it says about the class of people Sirius is turning to…"

"What did James say?" Vivian asked.

Lily shook her head, sneering a bit. "I'm not speaking to him. He's only appalled about the Audrey Granada thing because she's a Slytherin, not because it's terrible or insensitive."

There was a knock at the door, and Lily deposited Savannah's dinner on her bed before answering it.

"Oh, hey, Mary," she said.

"Hi, Lily! Any chance you'll help me with potions? Alice and I are stuck on this one essay…"

Lily hesitated. "Maybe in a bit? Now isn't the best time…"

Mary nodded. "Sure, sure, just come knock!"

Lily nodded, too. "Can do."

She shut the door behind Mary and walked back to Savannah's bed.

"Who's that?" Savannah sniffed.

"Just Mary MacDonald. She and Alice need help on potions homework."

Mary MacDonald and Alice Robins were sixth-year girls who shared a dormitory with Tara Nevan and Evetta Niall. Mary was an avid admirer of Lily: she thought her beautiful, talented and utterly confident (all true enough). Mary had reddish-brown hair and freckles. She could get a bit clingy, and from time to time, Slytherins picked on her.

Alice was headstrong and intelligent, and aspired to become an Auror – something Lily was sure she would succeed at, just as she succeeded in all of her endeavors. Alice had short, dark, slightly curly hair and a pleasant, round face. Lily found her very appealing.

Thus, after Savannah had calmed down a bit, Lily walked down the hall to the sixth-year girls' dormitory.

Evetta Niall answered her knock. "Oh hey," she said. "Mary and Alice went down to the common room."

Tara Nevan stepped up beside her. "Hey Lily, is it true Sirius fucked Audrey Granada _and_ Vanity Linus?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Who knows what's true anymore."

Tara frowned. "It's a bit disappointing, isn't it? He's really lowering his standards."

Lily raised one eyebrow. "I take it that at least _you _are over him?"

Tara nodded briskly. "Oh, definitely."

Evetta giggled. "We're relieved neither of us went too far with him."

Lily frowned. "I suppose that is a good thing, yes."

They were all silent for a moment. Then Tara asked, "Is Savannah very upset?"

Lily nodded. "Obviously."

Tara nodded, too. "See how she likes it."

Lily was annoyed at that. "Oh, not you too! Blame the boy for once, won't you?"

Tara shrugged.

Lily frowned. "It's absolutely ridiculous, girls blaming one another when it's just immature boys screwing us all over!"

Tara almost laughed. "Easy for you to say! You've got Jamie eating out of the palm of your hand!"

Lily shook her head. "Oh, as if! I'm through with him; he's an absolute prat. He's appalled at Sirius sleeping with a Slytherin, and nothing else about it fazes him."

Tara shook her head, too. "No no, Lily, you've got it all wrong! Jamie's appealing to the side of Sirius he knows he can hurt! He couldn't yell at him for disrespecting a girl's feelings; he's been doing that for years, and Savannah's no different from anyone else."

Lily was confused. "What do you mean?"

Tara smiled wryly. "Don't you see, Lily? James would never, _ever_ do something like that to _you_! It's not even a comparison, the types of relationships Sirius has with people compared with what James wants with you. He'll get furious with Sirius for sleeping with a Slytherin because it's really an affront to everything Sirius thinks he stands for. It's the only way to make Sirius feel any bit of shame." She paused, thinking, and then continued, "I mean, you _know _he was never ashamed of leading me on or trying to break up our friendship–" she gestured between herself and Evetta "–or _anything_ like that! But if James only _seems_ to get angry at Sirius for the most trivial aspects of a situation, that's because he knows that's all Sirius cares about."

Lily stared at her, considering this new perspective.

"Trust me, Lily, I grew up with him," Tara said. "Jamie's a good kid. Sirius has got loads of problems, but James is just a little boy who gets carried away sometimes."

-

Sirius lay on his bed, staring at the velvet hangings above him. Across the way, James lay on his bed, doing the same thing. Remus and Peter were in the library.

"Lily hates me now," James murmured. "She ignored me all through lunch and dinner."

Sirius didn't even get up. "Why?"

"She thinks I don't care that you've broken Savannah's heart."

Sirius closed his eyes. "I'm awful sorry, mate."

James didn't answer for several moments. Then he said, "Of course I care, Sirius. Of course I care."

Sirius nodded at the drapery. "I know. But it's not like we were you and Lily. It was never going to last forever. We weren't in love."

James heaved a very long sigh. "I know. But I suppose we aren't either."

Sirius sighed, too. "I really think I could love Audrey, James. I really think I could."

James almost laughed. "So why the _hell_ did you go fuck a dirty, insecure tramp like Vana Linus?"

Sirius shook his head. "To try and get over it."

James frowned. "Why are you so afraid of love?"

Sirius shook his head again. "I don't know. Or I don't even know how to explain it. But Audrey could explain it." He sighed again. "It's all so fucking ironic."

James sighed again, too.

Sirius tried to laugh. "We sound absolutely pathetic, mate. Absolutely pathetically emo."

James let out a feeble laugh.

They lay in silence for a few more minutes. Then Sirius asked, "So what are you going to do about Lily?"

James didn't answer at first. Then he said, "What can I do, mate? I care that you broke Savannah's heart, but I mean…" he paused to think. "I mean, I care, certainly, but you're my best mate and I don't… I mean… there are some things I just let slide."

Sirius nodded. "I'm awful sorry, James."

There was a knock at the door. Neither of them made a move to get up. The knocking came again, more tentatively this time.

"Who is it?" James called tiredly.

"Lily," a muffled voice answered.

James sat up sharply, grabbed his wand from his bedside table, swept it toward the candleholders on the walls so that the room, which had been shrouded in darkness, was filled with soft light, strode to the door, and opened it.

"What's up?" he asked earnestly.

Instead of answering, Lily threw her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly on the lips.

James's eyes widened; he looked absolutely flabbergasted. Then he wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss.

Sirius, who had sat up, felt his body flooding with warmth. He grinned. "Get a room!"

James and Lily stepped back into the room. Lily gave Sirius a sharp look, but he could tell she was flooded with happiness, too.

"I'm fucking pissed at you, Sirius Black," she stated. "If I were you, I'd get out of this room before I curse your brains out."

Sirius grinned broadly at Lily. "Gladly."

He caught sight of a flicker of a smile on her face, but in the next instant it was gone, and she was still glaring.

He grinned still more broadly as he skipped from the room, turning once to catch James's eyes, which looked positively star-spangled.

Then Lily pointed her wand at the door, and it slammed shut behind him.

_Well_, Sirius thought, as he made his way down the stairs toward the common room, wondering how he would spend the rest of the night, _at least it turned out well for those two_.

* * *

**Please review :)**

Love,

Simone

* * *


	15. Confession and Expansion of the World

**Summary: **A sleek Scandinavian, detention romance, a summer fling, the one girl he never expected, and more. Read all about Sirius Black's twisted love-life and the girls who made it click.

**Rated:** M of course!

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter One.

**A/N:** Look, I updated and it hasn't even been a year! Hoorah!

This is almost the last chapter. The next one will have one last scene and then a lot of stuff about the future – reactions to Sirius's imprisonment, etc. It's partially written already so I'll update it in the relative future, I swear!

If you're still reading after all this time, I sincerely thank you for putting up with my terrible updating habits :)

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

_Confession and the Expansion of the World_

"How's work coming?" Sirius asked Remus, leaning over the table to peer at Remus's essay.

Remus looked up. "Decent. What brings you here, anyway? I thought you and Prongs were going to spend the evening moping…"

Sirius shook his head. "Nah, Lily showed up and practically leaped into his arms; I couldn't just _stay_ there…"

Remus raised his eyebrows. "For serious?"

Sirius nodded. "For serious."

Peter came back from amongst the stacks, holding a book. "Wait, _what_ happened?" he demanded.

"Lily showed up and pretty much grabbed James by the cock," Sirius explained. "I decided to give them some privacy, but things are definitely looking good on the passing-first-base front…"

Peter grinned broadly. "That's _awesome_!"

Sirius turned to Remus. "How about you, mate? Passed that threshold with Evetta yet?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "For your information, we aren't even together."

"…Officially," Peter put in.

Remus smiled despite himself. "I'm just not sure if I'm ready to make it official. And I mean… it seems insincere to do much if I'm not fully committed, you know?"

Sirius scoffed. "Oh please! It's not like your lack of commitment is due to… I don't know… a desperate need to add more notches to your bedpost…"

Remus frowned. "Look, the… furry little problem thing is a fucking _big deal_ to the rest of the world, even if you three have gotten over it!"

Sirius brushed that aside with a wave of his hand. "Yeah, yeah, you don't have to get all defensive… But frankly, society should not prevent you from seeking happiness."

"I'm not afraid of happiness, Sirius, I'm just being pragmatic," Remus said tiredly (he was used to this conversation). "Besides, you're one to talk!"

Sirius frowned. "What do you mean?"

Remus looked at him incredulously. "If you're so set on happiness, why are you holding back on Audrey Granada? Don't the ends justify the means?"

Sirius continued to frown. "I can't help it; she makes me feel insecure! I'm not used to that! I refuse to exchange my perpetual self-assuredness for a real relationship!"

Peter laughed. "Well isn't that just saying it has no value to you, if you aren't willing to risk anything for it?"

Sirius stared at him. "Since when did you get all deep?"

Peter shrugged.

Sirius glanced back at Remus. "And is that what you think, too?" he demanded. "Should I be going for this or not?"

Now, Remus shrugged. "I mean… well honestly, Sirius, I don't think I've ever seen you this distraught over a girl. And it's up to you to decide if you'd be happier in the long run getting over it or pursuing it."

Sirius frowned. "And I figured I'd be happier getting over it, since it wouldn't work anyway."

Remus nodded. "So you told us. And if you're sure it wouldn't work, that's your prerogative."

Sirius continued to frown. What he really wanted, he realized, was someone with experience to tell him _exactly_ what to do. He wanted to know if it was worth taking a chance at love that could so drastically backfire. He needed someone who could understand what he was going through.

He wished he could ask Audrey; too bad the situation concerned her.

And then the answer came, so obvious he was surprised he hadn't thought of it before: Claire.

He grinned a bit despite himself. "I have to go…" he said, and then hurried away.

-

Sirius spent the next hour sitting in a deserted guest office, constructing a letter that would do the issue justice. He let his thoughts run wild, writing largely stream-of-consciousness. When he had filled nearly four scrolls of parchment with the epic tale of his current conundrum, he concluded,

So, as you have no doubt intuited, I desperately need your help! Kindly write back and tell me exactly what to do. Okay? Great!

_Yours in utmost respect and adoration,_

_Sirius_

He then made his way to the Owlrey and sent the letter off at once.

On the walk back to the Gryffindor common room, Sirius found the corridors to be surprisingly devoid of people, but then again, it was now almost ten. The common room itself was beginning to empty out as students returned to their dormitories. Sirius caught sight of Remus and Peter sitting in one corner.

"Why on earth aren't you two in bed?" he asked with feigned confusion, striding over to their corner and completely ignoring the glances granted him by the few stragglers.

Remus smiled and Peter smirked.

"I reckon they'll fall asleep soon and then we can make our entrance," Remus ventured.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "I sure hope this time is different… I mean, it seemed pretty genuine when Lily pounced on him the way she did, but then again, one never knows with girls…"

Peter chuckled. "I've decided that my only hope in life is for at least _one _of us to be maintaining a healthy relationship at any given time."

Sirius snorted. "Please; the last 'healthy' relationship I had was with Astrid Kierkegaard."

Remus grinned. "When was that, third year? Pity she moved away…"

Sirius smiled. "So true."

Remus suddenly looked thoughtful. "Where did you go just now, mate? We waited in the library for a bit but then figured we might as well head back here…"

Sirius smiled more broadly. "Just spilling my soul to Claire… on parchment, I mean. I figure she can offer an insightful opinion on my current… er… situation."

Remus and Peter both smiled. "That's the best idea you've had in days," Remus stated.

-

Halloween arrived three days later, and Sirius had still not heard back from Claire. However, he was no longer as perturbed as he had been over the weekend; every time anxious thoughts began to swell in the back of his mind, he simply repressed them by reassuring himself that Claire would know exactly what to do.

He had Arithmancy on Halloween morning. He hadn't seen Audrey at all over the past two days, except from far away in the Great Hall; he was too busy acting blissfully ignorant of people's frustrations with him to find time to fuel the flames of their discontent.

In the meantime, new gossip was swirling through the student body: for one thing, James and Lily had been inseparable ever since that fateful night.

When Sirius had awoken the next morning, after sneaking into the room around midnight with Remus and Peter, he had felt lighter than he had felt in days as he gazed at his best friend: James and Lily were both asleep, practically wrapped around one another. Lily lay on his chest, her head snug in the crook of his neck, and James' arms were around her. They both looked utterly content.

By the time Sirius had showered, James and Lily had half awoken but were busy cuddling with each other: they had switched to a spooning position and he kept nuzzling her hair and kissing her neck. Every time he did this, Lily smiled, her eyes still closed.

Sirius grinned then. "Good morning, you two," he stated pleasantly.

James and Lily both opened their eyes and looked up. Sirius was almost surprised to see that Lily was looking at him without a trace of rancor.

"Good morning," she murmured with a smile.

Sirius grinned still more broadly. "You don't hate me anymore, then?"

Lily tried to stop smiling, but failed. "I reckon it's just who you are, Black. And I've decided I'll get you a lot farther along through positive reinforcement than through negative."

Sirius raised one eyebrow. "No, really," he demanded. "What happened?"

Lily laughed, and James grinned sheepishly and said, "We had a very very _very_ long talk about it, actually. And she's decided to forgive you forever on the condition that…" he glanced at Lily.

"On the condition that you grow up!" Lily supplemented. She blushed slightly then, clearly unsure of how he would take this somewhat patronizing statement.

Sirius, however, chose not to be insulted. "I'm working on it," he admitted. Glancing at James, he said, "I sent Claire a letter last night, mate… asking her for a few words of wisdom, you know. With any luck I'll have sorted myself out within another week or two."

Lily frowned. "Claire who?"

Sirius felt himself smiling. "Delacour."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "What's she got to do with anything? I thought she graduated."

Sirius laughed then, and after a moment James joined in. "What has Claire Delacour got to do with my quest to find love? What's she got to do with the fact that I'm never satisfied with anything anymore? What's she got to do with my tried and failed attempts to, as you put it, 'grow up'?" He paused for emphasis, and then stated, "Everything."

Lily raised her eyebrow again. "I never pegged you as such a hopeless romantic, Sirius."

Sirius smiled; she had called him by his first name. It was to be one of many times.

"At heart, Lily," he told her, "I've always been a hopeless romantic."

It struck him later that, on the first day they ever talked, Audrey had told him the same thing.

On Halloween, then, Sirius sat in Arithmancy, facing Audrey for the first time. Was it his imagination, or did she look a bit paler than usual, a bit more withdrawn? He felt his heart flutter as she gave him a familiar smile.

"How's it going, pal?" she asked casually.

Sirius grinned. "I've been better."

Audrey raised an eyebrow and tucked her hair behind her ears. "I'd ask if you wanted to talk about it, but I reckon you wouldn't want to with me…"

Sirius nodded. "Correct. In fact, I think I've been trying to avoid you."

Audrey quirked one corner of her mouth down. "It's not for appearances, is it?" she asked slowly.

Sirius barked out a laugh. "For appearances? No, it's not." Of course it wasn't; Sirius couldn't have cared less by this point what people thought of seeing the two of them together.

Audrey surveyed him thoughtfully. "Why, then?"

He gave her a sad smile. "I expect you already know."

She paused for a moment, then smiled sadly back. "That I do."

The trouble, of course, was that spending time with Audrey Granada made it impossible for Sirius to think of anything except how much he wanted to _be_ with her. The only solution, he had decided, was to avoid her until Claire gave him instructions.

In the meantime, he was avoiding girls in general – except Lily, who was, of course, now a constant fixture at James' side.

Arithmancy passed without further incident. Sirius did not speak to Audrey for the rest of the lesson, and pointedly ignored the occasional giggles or whispers he knew were directed at the two of them. Despite himself, he was immensely relieved that Savannah had chosen not to attend class that day; by the end of the period, it was all he could do to maintain his poise.

Afterward, he walked with James, Remus and Lily to the Great Hall, contributing little to the conversation. They sat down at the Gryffindor table and began to help themselves to lunch – today, squash pie, rolls, and roasted ham.

There was a fluttering overhead, and Sirius raised his eyebrows in surprise – he felt himself swell with delight and anticipation as the school owl he had sent out three days previously soared toward him (unusual, given it was lunch and owls usually arrived at breakfast). He grabbed the letter tied to the owl's leg and slit it open quickly with his thumb.

_Dear Sirius,_

_That's all quite fascinating! I would love to offer you my wisdom, but I think I'll be able to do a much better job of it if I can speak to you face-to-face. I reckon most of the guest-offices at Hogwarts have access to the International Flu Network; I'll ask around at the ministry here and see if I can't get my flat hooked up as well, if only for a few hours. That will probably take a while to straighten out, so let's count on chatting in about two weeks, all right?_

_Talk to you soon, and try to keep your spirits up!_

_Yours,_

Claire

-

In the following two weeks, Sirius had plenty of opportunities to feel depressed. On Wednesday night he strolled down to the kitchens after hours, looking to get some muffins. Much to his chagrin, Audrey was already there, dining on a turkey sandwich.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully, looking up when he came in.

He approached her hesitantly and surveyed her enormous sandwich. "Miss dinner?"

She nodded. "I was strategizing for Quidditch. One of those planning jags, you know? I couldn't just take a break; it would have ruined everything."

He grinned. "Like in sex?"

She laughed. "Exactly… pervert."

He winced slightly; not because she had just called him a pervert (she was obviously kidding), but because he rather desperately wanted to have sex with her.

"You'd think they could hurry up with those muffins," he remarked, looking away.

She smiled knowingly. "Trying to escape?"

He gave her a wry look. "I'm not in a witty enough mood to deal with you right now. I fear I'll disappoint."

She frowned. "Well…you don't _always_ have to impress me…"

He stared at her, finding it hard not to; her dark eyes and hair were just so damn attractive to him. To think he had ever looked twice at any other girl!

She laughed. "At a loss for words already? Sheesh, you weren't kidding…"

A house elf had finally returned, carrying a basket of blueberry muffins for Sirius, as well as a strange-looking fruit.

"What's this?" he asked, taking it as well as the muffins.

Audrey smiled and reached out her hand. "That's for me," she said.

He looked up and handed it to her. "What is it?"

"_Una granada_," she said, splitting it open to reveal the inside, which was full of red seeds.

He realized what it was, and felt himself grinning despite himself. "A pomegranate?"

She smiled at him. "_Claro que si. Quieres un pocito?_"

He grinned more broadly. "I never took the nature of your heritage to the logical conclusion that you spoke Spanish," he remarked.

She laughed. "Nah, I'm terrible. Can't you tell from my accent?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "You've got the lisp down."

She laughed again. "All forced. I understand most everything but speaking is a world trickier."

He took a bite of his muffin and felt his heart fill with sorrow that he could not spend every waking moment of every day with this girl. Then he winced internally at how crippling lovesick he was; it was almost embarrassing.

"I never knew granada meant pomegranate," he said, trying not to let his voice catch in his throat.

She laughed. "What, you figured it must mean something dark and mysterious and vaguely unpalatable?"

He smiled sadly. "No, it's perfect."

She pressed a few pomegranate seeds into his hand, and he felt himself shiver at her touch. "It's delicious," she informed him.

He looked up and met her eyes. "I know."

She grinned broadly. "Flirting away, Sirius! We're just friends now, remember?"

He was about to cry and he didn't know why. He ate a pomegranate seed to distract himself. It was delicious, of course.

"I can't do this," he muttered.

Audrey raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"I just… I have to go." He gave her a forced smile and hurried out of the kitchen, leaving Audrey confused in his wake.

He couldn't spend time with her, he told himself as he walked slowly back to his dormitory. He couldn't talk to her. He couldn't look at her. Any time he did, he was reminded of how miserable he was.

He looked down at the pomegranate seeds in his hand. _Granada_. If only he had known. Not that it would have changed anything.

-

When he woke up the next morning, he realized he needed to apologize to Savannah.

He felt guilty, it was true: he wanted out of this miserable situation of paralysis. He would never get back together with Savannah, he knew already, not when he had tasted love in that single night with Audrey Granada. But Lily was forgiving him on the grounds that he "grew up," and he felt he owed it to her – not to mention to James, who was now anxious that the Quidditch team would start to suffer in the aftermath of all that drama.

Not to mention to Savannah.

He had understood the emotional damage he had caused countless girls, but he had always brushed it off as mere school trivialities: everyone had somebody cheat on him or her sooner or later, right? Everyone had a relationship end poorly. Better experience it sooner than later. He was really doing everyone a favor, wasn't he? The sooner they got over him and embraced the grim realities of life, the happier every ex would be.

But he still respected Savannah. He knew he hadn't acted it, but he had been deluded – tripped up by a burst of light that pierced the lethargy of his drab, picture-perfect "relationship" with her and caused him to momentarily forget that the present was relevant, too.

For, at the very least, he shouldn't have hooked up with Vanity Linus (but that was always true). And he should have officially ended things with Savannah ages ago, weeks and weeks before starting anything with Audrey.

How did mature adults manage these things, he wondered. Did they foresee the future? Did they know when to end a relationship and when to perpetuate one?

Or were most people equally daft? Did betrayal merely seem prevalent because it was more conversation-worthy than loyalty?

Sirius wasn't sure exactly how to go about apologizing at first, but then he figured he might as well just do what he always did: play it by ear.

He wasn't sure he expected her to forgive him, frankly. She hadn't so much as glanced his way in two weeks, and Quidditch practices were becoming increasingly awkward.

He was reminded of the start of the year, actually. But then it had all built up to them dating again, whereas this time it would hopefully end in a declaration of truce.

In the end, he sent her a letter, to be delivered by owl at breakfast.

Annie –

_I owe you an enormous apology and I desperately want to talk to you. I've been doing a lot of thinking these past few weeks and my only wish right now is for us to get onto a better footing. I've been absolutely atrocious to you, but I still respect you more than anything in the world and I really, really, really want you to forgive me._

_Astronomy tower at 8:00 tonight? Ten minutes is all I ask._

_Pitifully yours,_

_Sirius_

He was almost surprised by how honest the note was. Granted, the phrase "only wish right now" was not entirely accurate – "_one_ of my only wishes right now" would be more appropriate, as he also desperately wished that the Audrey situation would resolve itself.

All the same, he went to the Astronomy Tower at 7:50 that evening and sat down to wait.

When the bells tolled out eight o'clock, he started to wonder if she'd come. If he knew her at all, she would, though: what girl wouldn't want a heart-felt confession of guilt?

Perhaps someone with slightly more rancor in her heart would have refused, but Sirius felt that Savannah was by nature too optimistic a person to turn him down.

She arrived at 8:07.

"I wasn't sure you'd come," Sirius started, (even though he had been quite sure,) standing up from the bench on which he had been sitting and stepping forward.

Savannah merely surveyed him. She looked rather attractive – that was probably intentional. She wore jeans and a clingy wool sweater. Her hair was pulled back in a long, low ponytail. Her makeup was perfect.

"I wasn't sure I would at first," she noted quietly. "But Lily convinced me it was worth it."

Indeed: Sirius had asked Lily (through James) to do this.

"So… what do you have to say for yourself?" Savannah asked, folding her arms.

Sirius was about to grin, but restrained himself.

"Well… I know I've been an absolute git. And I'm sorry, I really am. I've just been getting pretty messed up lately with… well…"

He trailed off, not sure if it was worth continuing. What had truly been "messing him up" were all these discussions about his family, but he wasn't sure if Savannah would be able to appreciate this.

Then again, he probably owed her the truth, appreciable or otherwise.

"Messed up lately with what?" she asked sharply. "With talking to Audrey Granada after I specifically asked you not to?"

He smiled slightly, and she glared.

"No, no!" he said quickly. "Not that. Look, I… Annie… Savannah, there's an awful lot about me that you don't understand."

Her eyes were burning now. "Well I can't understand anything if you won't bloody _tell_ me!"

He stared at her. Was this really worth it? He thought of James, so desperate for Lily to be happy and the team to be united again. He thought of Audrey, so disappointed in him for failing to change. He thought of himself, finally recognizing this persistent contradiction in himself and being ashamed of it.

_Oh, to hell with it_, he thought.

"_Tell_ you?" he demanded. "_Tell _you? Well I'm terribly sorry if _telling_ you is a bit harder than just murmuring sweet nothings and tricking myself into being in love!"

She opened her mouth angrily to say something, but he plowed ahead.

"Annie, you know _nothing_ about the real me. You know the Gryffindor me, the Marauder me, the _womanizer_ me, the one that plays Quidditch and loves my friends and school and parties and mayhem. But you know _nothing_."

He paused for a moment, reflecting on his pretension. She closed her mouth and waited, frowning.

"I'm not often this pretentious," Sirius admitted, looking away. "Or at least, not pretentious in the way I'm about to be. I'll come off as pretentious, sure, but it's never genuine. I never actually care. It's all an act."

She frowned again and seemed about to say something, but he again continued before she had the chance.

"Annie, when I was six years old I'd sit around the dining hall table with my cousins and listen to lectures from my father about how wizards deserved only the best lot in life, deserved to crush muggles and… and _mudbloods_ and all who stood in our way, and how the Blacks were the _best_, the very best, _toujours pur_ as we were. And we'd all repeat before eating, '_Je suis une Black, je suis toujours pur_. _Pur toujours_.'

"And I _bought_ it, Annie, I _bought _it! And when I was ten I was finally allowed to attend the Twelfth Promenade, which you wouldn't know anything about, but it's essentially a dark, cultish, dangerous, miserable ball where little kids play eerily symbolic games like 'Mud Hunt' while the adults bask in their glory as the best of the purebloods, the elite few, and brag about their success in being spectacular.

"And then I turned up here and got sorted into _Gryffindor_, can you believe it? And all of the sudden I realized that everything I had ever known was a lie, and that meant I had _nobody_: no parents, no cousins, no _brother_. I used to have a real brother, Annie, did you know that? You talk about your older sister and how happy the two of you are, and it makes me almost remember those days when Regulus and I would sit on the drawing room floor playing with wooden toys beneath the Black Family Tapestry, devoid of all the relatives who had betrayed our purity of blood, who had broken that dinnertime pledge. And we had ugly wooden toys that were muggles, and elegant ones that were wizards, and the muggles were killed and tortured and forced to serve the wizards, because we knew that was right.

"And I say it makes me _almost_ remember because I never let myself get too far into the memories. I'm afraid of them.

"So picture me at Hogwarts, Annie, suddenly without family, without my cousins, without _anybody_. And my own mother blasted my name off the tapestry and kicked me out of the house, my father nearly died two years ago and I didn't find out until I read about it in the _Prophet_, my brother won't even look at me unless I hit him with a Bludger in Quidditch.

"And I _refuse_ to care. Because everything they stand for is wrong, is evil, is _not_ who I am or want to be.

"Then one day I meet Audrey Granada, and suddenly I'm able to talk about all of this and realize that ignoring it all these years had turned me into who I am today: I'm loyal, sure, and I'm talented and whatever the hell else everyone says about me, but I'm also apathetic as _fuck_ when it comes to things that don't matter to me, and I've got a whole lot of sorting out to do, all told.

"So I can't help but get carried away with Audrey Granada, Annie. She brought out the best and the worst in me. I adore you and your sheltered childhood, I _always_ have! But I'm dealing with an awful lot right now, trying to sort myself out, and I've made quite a few mistakes.

"So please, please, please," he looked her in the eyes, and saw that she was crying silently, "_please_ forgive me."

Savannah merely stared at him, tears still running down her cheeks.

"I… I never knew," she murmured. "I wish you could have told me before… though, I mean, I suppose I see why you couldn't…" She frowned, and Sirius leaned forward and wiped her damp eyes with his sleeve.

"Thank you," she mumbled. She glanced down at her watch, then back up at him. "This took longer than ten minutes."

He smiled slightly.

"I forgive you."

He leaned forward, kissed her on the cheek, and whispered, "Thank _you_."

They walked back to the common room together, shook hands, and left for their respective dormitories.

-

He was finally able to talk to Claire toward the end of November. They had exchanged several letters back and forth, ultimately determining the exact time of their meeting.

The fateful evening arrived. Sirius's body was in a guest office, leaning on the ground toward the fireplace. His head was in Claire's flat in Paris.

"Hey there!" Claire said cheerfully, sitting down on the floor to talk to him.

"Why, hello…"

He gave her a once-over despite himself. She was wearing cute silk pajamas and had pulled her hair back in a messy bun. She looked hot, as usual.

"Where's your boy?" he asked.

She laughed. "Hector? Out at the office; he won't be back for another hour."

Sirius grinned. "Oh Claire… how I've missed you…"

She laughed. "Likewise! But from the sound of your letter, you've got bigger fish to fry now…"

Sirius barked out a laugh. "In a manner of speaking, yes."

Claire nodded. "And you want me to tell you what to do, is that it?"

He nodded, too. "Yes!"

Claire shrugged. "Well, do you love her? You letter went on and on about the specifics of the situation, but avoided those few simple words…"

Sirius realized this was true. He hesitated. "I mean… I _could_, you know?"

Claire shook her head. "No. Elaborate."

Sirius attempted to put his dilemma into words. "I mean… she's really incredible… she knows me so well, it's almost unbearable… I want to spend every day with her, but I'm afraid she'll grow bored of me… I'm driving myself out of my mind, basically…"

Claire chuckled. "That's wonderful, Sirius!"

He laughed, surprised. "It is?"

She nodded. "Yes! If that's how it truly is, I think you should go for it."

He raised his eyebrows. "You do?"

She nodded again.

He narrowed his eyes. "Elaborate!"

She laughed. "I mean… you're afraid she'll hold more sway? That's like me and Hector; you know I _always_ technically held more sway, especially in the beginning, but I love him so much it doesn't matter! And if you love her, and she loves you, even if you let her win she'll always want everything to be in your best interest… you know?"

He tilted his head to one side, then the other. "Do you love him all that much, Claire?"

She laughed. "This isn't about _me_!" Then she thought for a moment, and said, "Here, think about it this way: if _we_ had gotten together – you know, in that alternate universe – you _technically_ would have held more sway than I did. And you know, that's why I was afraid of it at first! I was so used to being the one in control! But then…w ell, Hector aside… I realized that if you care enough about a person and have good intentions, the fact that in the beginning you hold more power grows irrelevant. Eventually the time will come for compromise, and if you get past the first few compromises with everyone's best interest at heart, you're fated to become equals."

He frowned. "Really, or are you making that up?"

She laughed. "Really! I promise."

He sighed, then. "I think I'm afraid of love, Claire. I fell in love with you but I could never actually have you, so it was a… a _safe_ kind of love. But now I'm contemplating the real thing, and it terrifies me."

She shrugged. "You love your friends, don't you?"

He smiled complacently. "You know what I mean."

She smiled, too. "I mean… well, Sirius, _l'amour est une chienne_! But it's almost all you'll ever need, you know? Why not sacrifice everything for it?"

He smiled genuinely then. "Love is a bitch… that is so very, very true."

She laughed. "That's not even literal, you know. _Chienne_ doesn't mean 'bitch' the same way it does in English; it's just a female dog."

He shrugged. "No worries." Then he grinned. "Anyway, this has been enlightening. Claire, _je t'aime_, but now I have to go find the other girl I love and confess everything to her."

Claire laughed happily. "Seriously?"

He smirked at her and tossed his hair out of his eyes. "Always."

-

She was in the library; he had brought the Marauder's Map with him for just this purpose. Sirius strolled casually through the stacks until he found her at a secluded table in a far corner – the same table, fittingly, that they had sat at that first time they had spoken.

"Good evening, Audrey," he said with a wry smile.

She stared at him. "I gather you've come to tell me something important?" she ventured. "Or is this just a casual encounter, despite the fact that you haven't looked twice at me since you abandoned me in the kitchens two weeks ago?"

He merely grinned and tossed his hair out of his eyes. "Audrey," he said slowly, "this may well be one of the most mature things I have ever done in my entire life."

Her dark eyes widened. "Are you over me, finally?" she asked. "Did you find another girl? Can we be friends again and forget anything ever happened?"

He frowned. "Now why would you want that?"

She bit her lip thoughtfully. "Well, I've quite missed you," she admitted.

.

He nodded. "I've quite missed you as well."

She looked up at him. "I haven't touched another boy in three weeks, though I'm not entirely sure why."

He shifted uncomfortably. "Well, apart from one slight mistake with Vanity Linus, I haven't either."

She wrinkled her nose. "Did you really have to do that?"

He nodded. "If you must know, I couldn't stop thinking about you."

She raised one eyebrow. "So you shagged someone else? Is that how it works?"

He nodded again. "For the less mature and more confused among us, yes."

She smiled imperceptibly. "Why are you here, Sirius?"

He grinned then. "You really want to know?"

She nodded.

"Guess."

She pursed her lips and twirled a strand of dark hair around one finger. "I have no idea. Just tell me."

He took a deep breath, and said, "Well, if you must know, I think I've fallen in love with you."

She blinked. Then she slowly began to grin. "_In_ love, did you say? Because I've _loved_ you for months now… but _in_ love? Really?"

Sirius felt himself beginning to grin more broadly than he had ever grinned in his life – but then he faltered. "Er… is there a difference?"

Audrey nodded. "_In_ love means that only that person, that singular person, can satisfy you. But you can _love_ many people."

Sirius smiled then. "Yes, Audrey, I am _in_ love with you. I see what you mean, though – I love my friends, certainly, but I'm not _in_ love with them." He paused for a moment. "Except James, perhaps."

She was grinning at him by this point. "I can't say I'm stunned, but I am a bit surprised at you, Sirius! In love with _me_, truly?"

He nodded. "I can't help it," he said. "After James, you are the only person in the world who has truly made me look at myself and want to change."

She nodded thoughtfully as well. "You're the only person I ever felt was worth changing, and I still don't entirely understand why."

Sirius hesitated. "Er… sorry to beat around the bush, but can we be together? Please? I know I've been a bit of an arse and taken weeks to figure myself out, but now that I've admitted it to myself, I don't see how I can go through the next few months of my life happily unless I've got you all to myself."

Audrey smiled at him. "Do you really think it will work?"

He nodded. "Well, I had a long chat with Claire, and she convinced me it's quite possible."

Audrey burst out laughing, then. "_Claire_? Claire Delacour convinced _you_, the second love of her life, that you should allow yourself to fall for _me_, her least favorite person in Great Britain?"

Sirius nodded. "Indeed she did."

Audrey looked at him with utter sincerity, then. Her dark eyes were wide and shining. "In that case, Sirius, I suppose we have no choice."

And she stood, climbed across the table, and kissed him fully on the lips.

-

When Sirius awoke the next morning, he lay in bed with his eyes closed, drowsy and content. And then he remembered, and his heart started pounding, and he opened his eyes, not remotely interested in dozing, wanting only to get up and greet the new day.

Audrey lay beside him, still asleep, curled away from him under the blankets. He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her close, and he felt her half awaken and squeeze his arm sleepily.

He wouldn't let her sleep. He kissed the back of her head until she had no choice but to roll over to face him, and then he started kissing her face and didn't stop until she started laughing and sat up to look down at him.

"Good morning," she observed.

He grinned. "Good morning."

She ran a hand through her hair and pulled back the drapes. Sunlight pierced through the dusky confines of the canopy bed. Audrey squinted at the ornate clock on the wall. It was nearly noon; the room was deserted. Good thing it was Saturday.

She turned back to him. "Looks like your roommates up and left. What are we supposed to do all alone in an empty room?"

He continued to grin. His felt such euphoria he was at a loss for words. "I love you," he remarked casually.

She nodded. "So I've heard. And you know, I reckon I love you back."

He smiled happily and brushed his hair aside with one hand. "Funny old world, isn't it?"

She nodded again, and grinned. "Such a funny old world."

Eventually they dressed and walked downstairs for lunch. The school noticed; they received more than a few glances and ostentatious whispers. But Sirius's caring had officially decreased to zero. So what if everybody knew he was happy? So what if people questioned his ethics? Now it wasn't simply a matter of envying his notoriety: it was a matter of envying his unadulterated joy.

-

And so the days passed pleasantly as Christmas vacation grew ever closer. Things were overwhelming idyllic. Sex was wonderful. The occasional argument or dispute was ultimately resolved.

Lily didn't like Audrey on principle, but the two were civil to one another. James and Remus and Peter treated her with a requisite level of respect. Sirius supposed that the situation could have been smoother, but given the circumstances, he figured everything was as amicable as he could hope for.

"Besides," he told Audrey one night as they lay in bed, "by the time we get married or whatever, they'll have completely gotten over the whole Slytherin Skank thing and we'll all be the best of friends!"

Audrey laughed. Her friends didn't like Sirius, either, but they were more afraid of offending Audrey than of their own prejudices. Sirius personally found all Audrey's friends to be utterly hilarious, as their attempts to be civil to him were wincingly awkward.

And then reality struck.

"Voldemort's really gaining power, mate," James told him one evening as they sat on their beds. "My dad told me it's getting really bad, more and more muggles are disappearing and they reckon he's using the Imperius Curse on a fair number of Ministry blokes…"

Sirius nodded. "So I've read. And I reckon my family's right in the thick of it, you know? Or even if they aren't they'll want to be… Did you know my cousin Cissa's marrying Lucius Malfoy?"

James raised one eyebrow. "That's rough, mate. I hope they don't make you attend the wedding…"

Sirius wrinkled his nose. "I should hope not. But I reckon they wouldn't want me there, anyway…"

James nodded thoughtfully. "Anyway, mate, I reckon we should join whatever Dumbledore's working on once we get out of school."

Sirius nodded, too. "And stick together no matter what, right, Prongs?"

James smiled. "Always, Padfoot."

-

The word came one day before they were set to depart for the holidays.

Lily, who had just squeezed into the seat beside James, frowned at the letter in his hand. "Who's that from?" she wondered aloud. A moment later, another owl swooped down and dropped one on her plate, too.

Sirius slit open his own envelope and began to read.

_Dear Mr. Black,_

_Please come to my office at 5:00 pm sharp tonight. _

_Sincerely,_

Albus Dumbledore

Sirius glanced at Remus's letter next to him. "Do they all say the same thing?" he asked.

Remus glanced at Sirius's letter in turn. "Looks like it."

"I wonder what it's about?" said Lily thoughtfully.

James scoffed. "It's obvious, isn't it? He wants to get us involved in fighting Lord Voldemort. We're all of age now, aren't we?" He glanced over at Sirius.

"I wonder who else has got an invite?" he mused.

James frowned. "Peter, for sure. Probably a few more Gryffindors as well… Annie, I wonder?"

Sirius glanced toward the Slytherin table despite himself. He felt sure that fighting Lord Voldemort was _not_ Audrey's cup of tea. In fact, he was quite certain that she would want to avoid involvement on either side of the war at all costs.

"I'll tell you one person who won't be getting a letter," he remarked. "Snivellus."

To he surprise, Lily took in her breath sharply.

Sirius glanced at her. "What?" he asked.

In the space of a second, Lily's face flickered through several emotions – Sirius had trouble discerning any particular one – and then she said, "Nothing."

He would only truly understand several years later, when Lily had fully forgiven him for all the emotional malfeasances he had committed at Hogwarts, that she, too, knew what it was like to be disappointed and disillusioned by someone you had once loved.

For he, of course, had undergone that same trauma – he, too, had family members who were disgusted with him and siblings with whom he secretly wished he could still get along. He, too, had childhood friends – in his case, cousins – who had taken a completely different path and failed to look back until it was far too late.

It would take years for Sirius to realize that this, perhaps, was what James – the child of privilege, the beloved only son – had grown to love in both of them (perhaps without even realizing it himself): that both Sirius and Lily could go through familial hell and emerge, clear-headed and optimistic, on the other side.

But in the meantime – at 17 – he had not yet realized any of this.

-

There turned out to be very few people meeting in Dumbledore's office that night. Savannah and Lily were both there, and the Marauders, and a small cluster of people from other houses. And Alice Robins, though she would not be of age until January.

Dumbledore explained to them all about the Order of the Phoenix. He made it very clear that participation was optional, but emphasized that he had called this select group here because he felt they would have the most interest in joining up once leaving school.

The meeting made them all feel strangely. When Dumbledore finished his speech, everyone in the room sat or stood in tense silence for a few moments until James asked cheerfully, "Can we make T-shirts, sir?"

The tension was broken; everyone laughed.

"That would be an excellent idea, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore replied, his blue eyes twinkling.

As Sirius and the other six Gryffindors made their way back toward their common room to freshen up before the end-of-term feast, Sirius found himself feeling immensely excited. Finally, _finally_, the opportunity to do exactly what he had always wanted: prove his family wrong. Take it to the next level. Rebel against everything that had ever corrupted him, and try to ensure that it never corrupted anybody else ever again.

"It's like we've suddenly entered the real world, isn't it?" he murmured to James.

Savannah shuddered. "I don't like it," she remarked. "Half of me doesn't want to get involved at all… I just want to be with my family and stay safe and out of everything."

Sirius glanced at her, pondering what an appropriate response to that would be. Lily, however, got there first.

"Well, I'm signing up as soon as I'm out of school," she stated simply.

"Me too," James added. "I mean, think about it! We'll get to fight on the side of the just, _and_ wear cool T-shirts, to boot!"

Lily smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

"I can't wait til I'm 17…" Alice remarked.

Sirius smiled. "We'll get you a T-shirt for your birthday."

He couldn't help but feel tremendously rejuvenated by all this talk of counter-insurgency. Already he found himself longing to get out of Hogwarts and embrace this new world. Thoughts of danger never occurred to him – this was everything he had ever set out to do.

It was funny – the only girl he had had a relationship with thus far whom he could see being remotely interested in joining the Order of the Phoenix was Tara Nevan. Claire would not join; it was not her country's war, after all. Savannah was proving to have cold feet; she did not have enough invested in the wizarding world worth fighting for, and she had nothing to prove to herself or her family. And Audrey would not see the merit in fighting for a cause when neutrality served one's safety so much better.

Sirius found himself wishing Audrey were more passionate about the anti-Voldemort movement. He knew she looked down upon Voldemort's actions; she had told him herself that she "wasn't a big fan of subservience, and had seen what the _toujours pur_ upbringing could do to a kid" – or something like that – but Sirius felt certain that she was too pragmatic to genuinely consider joining an organized cause.

He wasn't sure how he felt about this. He still loved Audrey like mad – but this, right here, was one crucial thing that needed to be addressed. Under normal circumstances, in a normal world, he knew that issues as enormous as deciding whether or not to risk one's life for the security of the entire society would never come up – in that normal world, he and Audrey could happily be together forever, never needing to reconcile their contrasting views on heroics. But in this colder, harsher world, they would inevitably have to go their separate ways.

This realization made him sad. Not regretful, not pessimistic – merely the deep-seated sorrow of innocence seeping hastily away.

That, and determined.

He realized that, at some point in the very near future, there would be no girl for him after all: there would be only James and Remus and Peter, and perhaps Lily, too, and Dumbledore and Alice Robins and others he had not yet met. And the Order of the Phoenix. Love was a bitch, and in this brave new world, it would only serve to complicate things. It would be a hindrance, a crippling weakness. Loving in wartime meant too much vulnerability, meant danger for those he loved and for those who loved him.

He hoped Audrey would get out – go to Cadiz, or perhaps Granada, her namesake, where she could eat pomegranates every day and speak with a lisp.

Then maybe someday, when this war ended and Voldemort had been vanquished, they could live together in a world where upbringing, lineage and political sympathies were mere talking points, and not matters of life and death.

---

Review and I'll love you forever,

Simone


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